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UF News University of Florida

UF musical groups join others for holiday concert at Phillips

December 3, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. today, Dec. 3, at the Phillips Center for Performing Arts will feature more than 300 performers from the University of Florida and the area.

Presented by UF President Bernie Machen and Mrs. Chris Machen, the concert will include student singers from the UF Concert Choir, Women’s Chorale and Men’s Glee Club. The Gainesville Civic Chorus will add their vocal muscle. Adding to the concert will be the University of Florida Symphony Orchestra and dancers and African percussionists from Santa Fe College.

“This wonderful annual seasonal event allows us to pause for a moment to escape the hectic outside world and enter a delightful inner world of comfort and joy,” said Will Kesling, professor and choral director. “We must thank President Machen for this wonderful seasonal gift — a delightful concert of comfort and joy.”

This year’s Sounds of the Season: The Twelfth Day of Christmas will open with the Christmas Processional “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas” from the hit movie “Home Alone” and will close with Georg Friedrich Händel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.”  There will be many musical surprises in between like “Pat-a-Pan Salsa” from Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” radio show and “Chanukah in Santa Monica.”

The University of Florida Symphony Orchestra will have two feature works by the upcoming composer Nathan Hofheins’ “Christmas Fanfare” and “Fantasia on a French Carol.” Back by popular demand, the program will also take “A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve days of Christmas” – a classical musical history lesson enhanced with Renaissance, Baroque and 19th-century motifs from compositions the audience will recognize.

Tickets are free and distributed at the door the day of the show. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to secure a seat, as a full house is expected.. For more information, contact the UFPA box office at 352-392-2787 or visit http://performingarts.ufl.edu/ for more information.