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.
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 Montgomery.LoneStar.edu/musicperformances.
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 Montgomery.LoneStar.edu.
Lone Star College System consists of five colleges, including CyFair, Kingwood, Montgomery, North Harris, and Tomball, six centers and Lone Star College-University Center. With more than 51,000 students, it is the largest college system in the Houston area, and third largest community college district in Texas. For more information, visit www.LoneStar.edu.