‘Tis the Season – Friday Evening Music Club

The recital will feature Debussy’s Pagodes and Hills of Anacapri, Sibelius’ The Birch and The Spruce, (evoking the majesty and tranquility of a Nordic forest) and Liszt’s Beside a Spring, performed by guest pianist, adjunct WVU faculty member, Amy Simpson.

We will then kick off the Christmas season with vocal and instrumental arrangements of seasonal tunes. Flutist Janice Decker and pianist, Beverly Hritz will present a beautiful arrangement of the Fantasia on Greensleeves, adapted from the opera Sir John in Love, by Vaughan Williams. Michael Rozell, baritone, and Hazel Braun, piano, will share two well-loved songs with contrasting American roots. African-American spiritual, Go Tell it on the Mountain, likely out of the oral tradition, celebrates the Nativity, while I’ll Be Home for Christmas, by Kent and Gannon, was written to honor soldiers fighting in WWII who longed to be home with their loved ones.

Baritones Marc Tourre and Endy Reindl will collaborate with pianist Sylvia Andrae to present the traditional 16th century English “Coventry” Carol. The evening will conclude with a rousing (4-part) Christmas Carol Sing-Along, led by Tourre, with Rozell on piano.

Admission is free to club members and voluntary donations are accepted from non-members at the door. All are invited to a reception following the recital. The more, the merrier!