The award-winning Portage High School Department of Music is proud to announce the upcoming Holiday Concerts for 2014.* The PHS auditorium is festively decorated for the season, including beautiful poinsettia plants lining the front of the stage for the band and orchestra concerts.
The first High School concert will be presented on Wednesday, December 3. Under the Direction of William Timmerman and Drew Rhoda, the PHS Bands (Concert, Symphonic and Wind Ensemble) will play a variety of seasonal music.
Concert Band will perform Carols from the British Isles, Nativity Carol and Bobsled Run. The Symphonic Band will play Snow!, In the Bleak Midwinter and Christmas Winds. The Wind Ensemble will complete the evening’s program performing A Vaughn Williams Christmas, White Christmas, Christmas Pipes and The Eighth Candle.
The next concert in the series will feature the PHS Orchestras. The orchestras will combine on several selections with the top wind players of the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble. The ensembles are under the direction of Carrie Ann Carlson and assisted by Graciela Burroughs, Indiana University. Special guest is Dr. Richard Weigel, Superintendent of the Portage Township Schools, who will serve as narrator.
Beginning/Intermediate Combined Strings will begin the festive program with Inverno (Winter), an arrangement from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, followed by Snow Ride. Next, Tidings of Comfort and Joy!, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Mozart’s Sleigh Ride feature Beginning and Intermediate Full Orchestra.
The second half of the program features selections by the Advanced Orchestra string section: The Journey of the Magi and Terkisher Klezmer Fest, followed by Full Orchestra selections, There’s Christmas in the Air, Tchaikovsky’s Sleigh Ride from The Seasons, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The concert will conclude with music from The Polar Express.
The final concert in the series will feature the PHS Choirs. Under the direction of Aaron Riegle and assisted by Anna Duran, Valparaiso University, the choirs will perform their holiday selections on Monday, December 15th. The concert will include five choirs, plus the massed choir/alumni choir joining together for the traditional singing of Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. Songs included in the evening concert include Ding, Dong, Merrily On High, Winterlight and Dodi Li (Girls Glee), Mele Kalikimaka, Carol of the Bells, White Christmas and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (Choraliers). Also, Throw Open Your Shutters!, Bashana Haba’ah, Variations on Jingle Bells (Intermediate Mixed Choir), This Little Babe, Shalom/Pacem/ Peace, and Go Where I Send Thee! (Advanced Women’s Choir). Finally, Deck The Halls, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day and Mistletoe, sung by the Advanced Mixed Choir.
These concerts are family friendly. The music department cordially invites members of the community to join in the celebrations of the holiday season.