LCCC Holiday Collage concert to bring seasonal cheer

CHEYENNE, Wyoming – Laramie County Community College’s Music Department will be bringing seasonal cheer to campus with the Fifth Annual Holiday Collage at 3 p.m. Dec. 4 in the Surbrugg/Prentice Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public. 

The concert includes the Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, Cantorei, Collegiate Choir, Cheyenne Brass Band and Wind Ensemble. Dr. Frank Cook, LCCC music instructor, said most of the music lends itself to Christmas traditions, but other traditions will also be represented. 

The Jazz Ensemble will perform Rick Hirsch’s “Chanukah Joy,” an arrangement of the Jewish liturgical poem “Ma’oz Tzur.” The Jazz Ensemble will also perform a funky, 1970s style “Deck the Halls” featuring tenor saxophonist Rex Amend.    

The Chamber Orchestra will open its performance with two selections from the Christmas classic “Home Alone.” 

“John Williams' iconic ‘Home Alone’ score is my absolute favorite for the holidays and is one of many works where Williams perfectly captures the magic and awe of childhood in music,” said John Fritz, LCCC music instructor and Chamber Orchestra conductor.  

The Chamber Orchestra will close with a jazzy arrangement of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane’s "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The chamber orchestra will be joined by two guest musicians — Wade Holzapfel and Sabrina Edwards — on piano and percussion, respectively. 

Cantorei will be performing an arrangement of “Jingle Bells” in the swing style by Alan Billingsley. The Collegiate Chorale will sing “A Merry Christmas Melody,” arranged by Greg Gilpin, featuring a lot of well-known Christmas carols. They will also close their set with the traditional News Year’s song “Auld Lang Syne,” arranged by Desmond Earley. 

Two works will be performed by the Cheyenne Brass Band. One will be antiphonal music by Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, originally written to be performed in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy and traditionally performed at Christmastime.  The other will be an arrangement of “12 Days of Christmas” made popular by the Denver Brass.  

“It’s just really fun — everyone’s going to have a good time with it,” Cook said.  

Many will also be familiar with music from the 1989 Christmas classic comedy “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” performed by the Wind Ensemble. Following will be a mashup of the classic Christmas tune “Little Drummer Boy” and French composer Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” arranged by Julie Giroux. Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” will be next. To close the show, LCCC alumni trumpeters, LCCC trumpet instructors and community members who play trumpet have been invited to solo with the Wind Ensemble on “Bugler’s Holiday.”  

“That will be a big, festive closer,” Cook said.     

For more information about LCCC’s music programs, contact Dr. Frank Cook at fcookFREELARAMIE or 307.778.1306.