IVCC music ensembles to perform 3 holiday concerts

Illinois Valley Community College’s music ensembles will perform next week in three separate holiday concerts.

The choir opens the week Monday, Dec. 2, followed by the Jazz Ensemble on Tuesday, Dec. 3, in performances starting at 7 p.m. The Wind Ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5. All the concerts take place in the Dr. Mary Margaret Weeg Cultural Centre. Admission to all is free.

The choir, under the direction of Jenilyn Roether, will perform “Zion’s Walls,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” selections from Handel’s “Messiah,” “In the Bleak Midwinter” and many others.

Under the direction of Brandon Czubachowski, the Jazz Band performs standard and new arrangements by prominent composers and arrangers. The end-of-semester concert this season will include holiday medleys and favorites by Michael Sweeney, John Lennon, Roger Holmes, Bob Thurston, Louis Belsom and Mark Taylor, Andrew Palmer and Sammy Nestico.

Pieces include:“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy;” “John Lennon Medley” (“Hey Jude,” “And I Love Her” and “Here, There, and Everywhere”); “Blue Skies” (featuring Frederic Davis as vocalist); “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” (featuring LaSalle Peru High School senior Alton Beck on bass trombone); and “Brush Taps” (featuring Harry Nangle on drums).

“Auld Lang Syne” will be a new version of the old standard for the big band. “Christmas the Joy and Spirit” is a medley of holiday favorites such as “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” “Up on the Housetop,” “The Wassail Song,” “Silent Night,” “Adeste Fideles,” “Away in a Manger” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.”

The Wind Ensemble will perform works by Gustav Holst, Robert W. Smith, Timothy Mahr, Brian Balmages, Claude T. Smith and Darrell W. Jenkins. The pieces include “First Suite in E Flat,” “Ireland: of Legend and Lore,” “Pride, Promise and Progress,” “Rail Riffs,” “A Rhapsody on Christmas Carols,” and “Variations on ‘A Mighty Fortress.’”

Under the direction of conductor Phil Whaley, the Wind Ensemble includes IVCC students, local and regional music educators, and community members.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, Roether will be a featured soloist as the IVCC Choir joins the Ottawa High School choirs and the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra onstage. The concert begins at 4 p.m. at the OTHS auditorium.

Roether will solo on selections from Handel’s “Messiah,” and the groups also perform Michael W. Smith’s “Glory Overture” and Shaw/Bennett’s “Many Moods of Christmas.”

Tickets are available through the IVSO website at ivso.org.