20:30 hrs. Teatro Degollado
12:30 hrs. Teatro Degollado
Christmas Concert
Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco
Jesús Medina, Music Director
Programa:
Suite from“The Nutcracker” | PIOTR ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Christmas Rocks at the Pops | Arr. R. FORD
Sleigh Ride| LEROY ANDERSON
Christmas at the Movies | Arr. B. KROGSTAD
Silent Night | Arr. CHIP DAVIS/CUSTER
The Bells of Christmas | Arr. B. KROGSTAD
We Wish you a Merry Christmas | Arr. Jerry Brubaker
In this week’s special Christmas offering, the OFJ examines a few of the musical Christmas traditions familiar to all of us—some old, some new!
We begin with a “Suite” dream of every little ballerina: the world’s favorite dance numbers from Tchaikovsky´s beloved ballet The Nutcracker, whose little protagonist, Clara, befriends a special Christmas gift from her favorite uncle: the Nutcracker, and brings him to life on the night before Christmas to battle the wicked Mouse King and travel through a fantastic imaginary world with her. Chosen and orchestrated by the composer under very special circumstances (Read the program notes!), the musical numbers in the Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Suite (among them the March of the Toy Soldiers, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, Waltz of the Flowers) bring thoughts of Christmas to every head—and make us long to dance.
The arrangements that follow in this special OFJ program begin with Christmas Rocks at the Pops, a potpourri of traditional Christmas tunes (but with a backbeat!)...followed by the ubiquitous Sleigh Ride—an imaginative composer’s response to a heat wave in July— complete with jingle bells, the sound of horses´ hooves, the crack of the whip and the horse’s whinny when he is forced to stop and end the fun.
An important part of our culture in recent Christmastimes has been the release of special movies related to the holidays. In Navidad en el cine (Christmas at the Movies), the OFJ brings us musical reminiscences from six such films. Can you guess which ones?
A new take on Silent Night (Noche de paz) introduces our audience to two of the OFJ’s finest performers: Principal Cellist Christian Jiménez and pianist Carlos Gutiérrez, in a moving rendition of the beloved holiday classic; and then the Christmas bells start ringing in a special arrangement, The Bells of Christmas, that features six songs whose lyrics refer to those ringing bells. One of them is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and it includes a lovely solo by OFJ Concertmistress Angélica Olivo!
Could there be a merrier way to end our OFJ special Christmas program than “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”? At the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco—from all of us, to all of you, we wish you the happiest of holidays!
Thursday, December 9th, 8:30 PM
Sunday, December 12th, 12:30 PM
Special Events 2021, Teatro Degollado
*Tickets from $170 to $350 pesos, available at the Degollado Theatre box office and through the Ticketmaster system.