Hampton Roads Philharmonic
12th Performing Season

Winter Classics & Holiday Favorites
Steven Brindle, Music Director
Reese Tunstall, Assistant Conductor

Alex Stan, Golden Baton Winner

The American Theatre
Sunday, December 15, 2024, at 2:30 pm

Christmas Festival Overture - Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
A concert overture, A Christmas Festival was arranged in 1950 by Anderson as a showpiece for his own orchestra. The compilation of melodies illustrates both the secular and religious aspects of the season. It includes “Joy to the World;” “Deck the Halls;” “God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen;” “Good King Wenceslas;” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing;” “The First Noel;” “Silent Night;” “Jingle Bells;” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.”

- Clinton Symphony Orchestra

Toccata on Carol of the Bells - David Lovrien (b. 1963)
Starting off as the recognizable Christmas tune before delving into the dramatic antics of an orchestral movement, David Lovrien’s Toccata on “Carol of the Bells” is a modern take on the Ukrainian Christmas tune. Carol of the Bells was originally written in 1914 and was based off of a folk chant named Shchedryk, meaning “the generous one.” Between 1919 and 1922, Carol of the Bells became widely popular in Europe and the Americas where it has remained a well-known Christmas tune to this day.

- Gabriel Gravini
- compiled by Claire Vivian

The Skater’s Waltz (Les Patineurs) - Émile Waldteufel (1837-1915)
Les Patineurs Valse, Op. 183, is a waltz by Charles Émile Lévy, writing under the pseudonym Émile Waldteufel.

Known in English as The Skaters' Waltz, it was composed in 1882 and was inspired by the Cercle des Patineurs or “Rink of Skaters” at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. His introduction to the waltz can be likened to the poise of a skater and the glissando notes invoke scenes of a wintry atmosphere. The other themes that follow are graceful and swirling, as if to depict a ring of skaters in their glory. Bells were also added for good measure to complete the winter scenery.

• Program note from Wikipedia

The Low Arc of the Sun - Steven Bryant (b. 1972)
The Low Arc of the Sun is a flexible instrumentation version of the band work of the same name, itself part of the five-work Miniature Suite. The work is a wistful chorale, evocative of the short, gray days in midwinter, marked by the low path of the sun above the horizon.

- Program note from publisher

Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975) got the idea for the theme of Sleigh Ride as he dug in his Woodbury, Connecticut, yard for water pipes during a heat wave in 1946. As he dug and the perspiration soaked his clothes, he thought of a tall glass of ice water to quench his thirst, a thought that turned to winter and snow and then to racing over the countryside in a horse-drawn sleigh with a sharp, wintry breeze whipping across his cheeks. With those thoughts in mind, the composer conjured up a melody.

Anderson’s new “holiday” miniature premiered at a May 1948 concert of the Boston Pops. It was such an immediate hit with the public that several recorded versions appeared within a year, including one with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops and one with the composer conducting.

- Clinton Symphony Orchestra

Minor Alterations - David Lovrien (b. 1963)
Minor Alterations: Christmas Through the Looking Glass is a medley of favorite Christmas tunes, transposed from major to minor keys, then disguised, layered and morphed even more. From the ominous Deck the Halls at the start to the final, frenzied Nutcracker Suite finale, each tune is lovingly twisted into something new and inventive.

- Program note from the publisher

Lux Aurumque - Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
Lux Aurumque began its life as an a-capella choral work that I wrote in the fall of 2000. When the Texas Music Educators Association and a consortium of bands commissioned me to adapt it for symphonic winds, I rewrote the climax and included the grand “Bliss” theme from my opera Paradise Lost. Lux Aurumque received its premiere at the 2005 conference of the Texas Music Educators Association, and is dedicated with deep admiration for my dear friend Gary Green.

- Eric Whitacre, from wind score

O Holy Night - arr. by Dan Goeller
Though he was respected in his day as composer of operas and ballet scores (including the well-known Giselle) Adolphe Adam is known to American audiences mostly for his Christmas carol Cantique de Noël. Written in 1847 as a setting of a two-verse Christmas poem by Mary Cappeaux, this carol was later adapted by J. S. Wright as a three-verse English carol, O Holy Night. This performance features an arrangement for tenor voice and orchestra by Dan Goeller.

- Madison Symphony Orchestra

Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer - Johnny Marks, arr. Jack Bullock
We all know Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen---Santa's reindeer for his yearly trip. But it was Rudolph who saved the night on that foggy Christmas Eve, leading with his red nose! For over sixty years, this holiday song has been loved by all. 

- Program note from publisher

Russian Christmas Music - Alfred Reed, orchestral transcription by Clark McAlister

An ancient Russian Chrsitmas carol (“Carol of the Little Russian Children”), together with a good deal of original material and some motivic elements derived from the liturgical music of the Eastern Orthodox Church, forms the basis for this musical impression of Old Russia during the jubilant Christmas season. Although cast in the form of a single continuous movement, four distinct sections may be easily recognized, originally sub-titled: Children’s Carol, Antiphonal Chant, Village Song, and the closing Cathedral Chorus. 

The publication of this orchestra setting of my Russian Christmas Music, some fifty years after its first performance as a work originally conceived in terms of the symphonic band, represents a high honor indeed, and one which few composers have enjoyed, to judge from the small number of works for wind band that have been successfully transcribed “backwards,” so to speak, from band to orchestra rather than the other way around.

- Alfred Reed

Program notes compiled by Claire Vivian.

Chair – Dr. Chelsey Hamm
Vice-Chair – Michael Marshall

Secretary – Kerry Moffit
Treasurer – Stephen Wood

David Bason
Traci Bluhm
Mark Hendrickson
Keri Houser
Dr. Christoph Leemann 
Shea Matthews
Lynn Sebacher

Sustainer ($1,000 or more)

Newport News Arts Commission

Anonymous

David & Shu Ling Heddle

Dr. Christoph Leeman

Michael & Valerie Marshall

George & Janet Nelson

Molly & Forrest Ward

Stephen Wood & Eileen Chadis Wood

Benefactor ($500-$999)

Mr. John Dorsey

Janna Fitzgerald

Mark Hendrickson

Joseph & Esther Loch

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Morgan

Patron ($250-$499)

Eugene & Michel Chieffo

John & Isabelle Cummings

Mr. & Mrs. Edward Guldner

Dr. Chelsey Hamm

Lynn M. Sebacher

Sponsor ($100-$249)

Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Adams

Emmet Aylor

Patrick Beste

William & Roxanna Anderson

David Bason

Donna Berg

Lydia Crim

Alice Cryer

William Davenport

Robert Doggett

David & Christine Evans

Katherine Freakley

Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Garner

Virginia Glover

Edna Griffenhagen

Dr. Raymond Jones

Sharon Katzman

Elizabeth Kim & Allen F. Pugh

Robert Kimsey

Christopher Matthews

Mr. & Mrs. Phil Lien

Ellen McDade

George & Dona McKenzie

Laurie McNemar

Evelyn Perry

Elizabeth Kim & Allen F. Pugh

Patty Price

Sarah Quemada 

Richard Rohrer

Jan & Jack Ryan

Camiel Sims 

James & Judy Torrey

Mr. & Mrs. Ray Walsh

Charlie & DJ Whittaker

Friend (Up to $99)

The Network for Good 

David & Shirlie Anson

Julie Bednarek

Leo Chan

William Coker

Joseph Drewry

Billie Einselen

Sharon Katzman

Colonel & Mrs. I.N. McInnis, Jr.

Matthew Simon

Peggy Watson

Dr. Richard Wertime