ETHS Holiday Music Festival

Over 300 student musicians will help ring in the holidays
when Evanston Township High School presents its Holiday Music Festival at 3pm
on Sunday, December 15, in the ETHS auditorium.

Two orchestras (String Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra);
three bands (Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and Wind Symphony); and several vocal
groups including the Concert Choir, Chorale, Chamber Singers, Bazao A Cappella,
Dazzling Dames, Circle of 5ths and the Handbell Choir will perform contemporary
and classical pieces that will put everyone in a holiday mood. ETHS A Cappella
groups will carol in the lobby before the concert.

The orchestras will perform varied holiday
pieces, including “The Three-Minute Nutcracker,” and Benjamin Britten’s “Men of
Goodwill: Variations on a Christmas Carol for Orchestra,” in honor of his 100th
birthday. This work was composed for the BBC program that was broadcast on
Christmas Day 1947, immediately before King George VI’s speech to the empire.

Band repertoire includes several holiday
favorites as well as works by Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Allan
Hovhaness, and “Blithe Bells” by J.S. Bach, arranged by Percy Grainger.

Tickets, available at the door, are $3 for adults, $1 for
students and free to senior citizens. Evanston Township High School is located
at 1600 Dodge Ave., and the auditorium is handicapped accessible. Parking is
best in the lot directly across from the auditorium entrance on Dodge Ave.