The Department of Music and the Mondavi Center Presenting Program are offering up holiday concerts to suit a variety of tastes.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Holiday Concerts
- UC Davis Concert Band — 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5.
- University Chorus — 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7.
- Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center — 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8.
- Boston Brass (Well-Being Ticket Deal for December) — 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16. NOTE: Dateline made an error in this article as originally posted, giving an incorrect time for this concert.
WHERE: All concerts in Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
TICKETS are available through the Mondavi Center box office:
- Online — A link is provided with each listing in this article.
- By phone — 530-754-2787 or 866-754-2787.
- In person — The box office is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour before all ticketed events.
• The UC Davis Concert Band will perform Grant Cottier’s “Fantasy on an Old French Carol-Noël des Oiseaux,” among other selections, while also hosting the Yolo Community Band for music from The Nutcracker Suite and The Polar Express, with video.
• The University Chorus will present a program of Spanish and Latin American Christmas music from church and village.
• As part of the Mondavi Center Presenting Program, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will present Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concertos, providing “spiritual fulfillment for music lovers of all faiths and beliefs.”
• The Boston Brass, another show in the Mondavi Center Presenting Program, will perform swinging seasonal chart-toppers made famous by bandleader Stan Kenton and his orchestras.
Staff and Faculty Well-Being Ticket Deal
Staff and faculty are invited to attend the Boston Brass concert for just $10 (limit two tickets per person), under the auspices of the Well-Being Ticket Deal sponsored by the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in partnership with the Staff and Faculty Health and Well-Being Program.
Concert Band and Yolo Community Band
7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center. Tickets.
Director Pete Nowlen calls the Concert Band’s upcoming program as “fascinatingly varied, including something for everyone.”
“The concert features pieces inspired by the folk music of agricultural societies of Europe, China and the United States,” he said. “And we are so excited to host our good friends of the Yolo Community Band.”
Here are the bands’ respective programs:
• Concert Band — Works derived from folk music, including Chen Yi’s Suite from China West (China), Satoshi Yagisawa’s Machu Pichu, Gustav Holst’s Second Suite (England) and Cottier’s “Fantasy on an Old French Carol-Noël des Oiseaux” (France).
• Yolo Community Band — Music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71A (“March,” “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” “Russian Dance,” “Arabian Dance,” “Chinese Dance” and “Dance of the Toy Flutes”); along with “The Frozen Cathedral” by John Mackey, featuring-Jana Olvera, piano; and The Polar Express by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, arranged by Jerry Brubaker, featuring “Believe,” “The Polar Express,” “When Christmas Come To Town” and “The Spirit Of the Season,” accompanied by video.
More information is available on the music department's website.
University Chorus
7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center. Tickets.
In his first concert as the new director of the chorus, Caleb Lewis leads “Una Navidad Latina/A Latin Christmas,” a concert in two parts: “En la iglesia’ (In the Church), featuring 16th-century sacred polyphony from the Iberian peninsula; and “En el pueblo” (In the Village), featuring Christmas carols sung throughout Spain and Latin America, including such favorites as “Campana sobre campana” and “Niño lindo.”
Lewis joined the music faculty in July, succeeding Jeffrey Thomas, who retired from UC Davis but continues as the music director of the San Francisco-based American Bach Soloists.
“I am honored and excited to work with the generous people here at UC Davis. The University Chorus has been a joy for me this quarter, and I hope to live up to the legacy of the choral program established by the directors who have come before me.” — Caleb Lewis
Lewis recently completed his coursework for a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. He will be finishing his dissertation — an English edition in Byzantine chant of an ancient Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary, the Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos — while teaching at UC Davis. He also has degrees in choral music from Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina; and Emory University, Atlanta.
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center. Tickets.
Presenting the Brandenburg Concertos, “arguably the greatest of all baroque concertos,” as described by the performing group on its website. Less than a week after this concert, the Chamber Music Society will present the same program at Lincoln Center. The New York holiday season would be incomplete without these “eternally fresh” concertos, the website continues. “Bach’s six masterpieces unfailingly provide spiritual fulfillment for music lovers of all faiths and beliefs, inspiring strength at year’s end and a vision of the brightest future.”
Boston Brass
2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center. Tickets. For the Well-Being Ticket Deal, use Promo Code BRASS18; Well-Being Ticket Deal tickets are available Dec. 1-16. (NOTE: Dateline made an error in the original post of this article, giving an incorrect time for the concert.)
The ensemble’s lively repertoire, touched with humor and personality, attempts to bridge the ocean of classical formality by delighting audiences with an evening of great music and boisterous fun. For this holiday concert, Boston Brass performs the swinging seasonal chart-toppers made famous by bandleader Stan Kenton and his orchestras, combined with solo and combo selections as well as fun surprises.
Media Resources
Dateline Staff, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu