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Holiday
Concert to Benefit Salvation Army
By
Steve Scheffler
November 21, 2008
Woodlands Online
Gregory Ristow, left,
professor of music at Lone Star College-Montgomery, holds the
songbook for the college’s December 5 “Home for the Holidays”
concert benefiting the Salvation Army. Captain David Robinson,
right, corps officer with the Salvation Army, and Penny
Westerfeld, interim president of LSC-Montgomery, are excited to
bring this event to the community. It is the college’s third
annual holiday benefit concert.
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On
Friday, December 5, at 7:30 p.m., Lone Star College-Montgomery
choirs, orchestra, and soloists will perform a “Home for the
Holidays”-themed concert in the college’s Mainstage Theatre
(Building D). All
ticket proceeds and contributions will be donated to the
Salvation Army. The ticket price is $10 and additional donations
will be accepted.
The
occasion marks the third year that LSC-Montgomery’s annual
holiday concert has benefited a local non-profit organization.
“We’re
delighted to raise money for the Salvation Army,” said Gregory
Ristow, director of choirs and professor of music at LSC-Montgomery.
“Given the outreach it has in the community, especially our
immediate area, it couldn’t be a better fit.”
The
first half of the program will feature a mass by Gioachino
Rossini, the opera composer who wrote “Barber of Seville,” with
its famous “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro.” The program will
bring together the Lone Star College-Montgomery String Ensemble,
Concert Choir and Chamber Singers as well as soloists. Rossini
wrote this mass when he was only 18 and still a student, for the
cathedral at Rimini, nearby his home town of Pesaro, on the
Adriatic coast of Italy. The work has a youthful excitement and
energy to it that foreshadows the ebullient operatic style he
would go on to develop.
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The
second half of the program is all popular holiday music,
including a trio of songs about home: “I’ll be Home for
Christmas,” “Up on the Housetop,” and “No Place Like Home for
the Holidays.”
“This is
the most upbeat concert I think we’ve ever done,” added Ristow.
“From the Rossini mass, which is full of youthful excitement, to
these popular holiday songs, we’ve been having a great time
learning and singing this music. I know the audience will really
enjoy hearing it.”
The
Salvation Army, with its local Corps headquarters in downtown
Conroe, provides a variety of services for those in need,
ranging from feeding more than 10,000 people on Thanksgiving
Day, the annual Angel Tree program at The Woodlands Mall,
holiday bell ringing to raise money for rent assistance, food,
utilities and unmet needs of the elderly, and much more.
“During and after Hurricane Ike, our supplies were severely
depleted” said Captain David Robinson, corps officer of the
Salvation Army. “Not only will the concert proceeds help the
Salvation Army financially, but the publicity generated to
promote the concert will bring much needed awareness about how
we serve the public.”
To
purchase tickets, for more information, or to make a donation,
contact Ristow at (936) 273-7270.
For
more information about the Lone Star College-Montgomery music
department or its performance schedule, visit the link below.
LSC-Montgomery
is located at 3200 College Park Drive, one-half mile west of
Interstate 45, between Conroe and The Woodlands. For more
information about the college, call (936) 273-7000, or visit the
College's Web site.
Copyright © 2008 Woodlands Online
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