By: Nick McGill ~Sports Editor~

This coming week will feature many ensemble performances for the Christmas Music Festival. It will include a performance by the Xavier University Symphonic Winds in conjunction with the Filmore Wind Band at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 9 in the Gallagher Student Center Theatre. Admission is free. Interim Director of Instrumental Activities Jim Daughters conducts both groups that will be perform holiday favorites, “Sleigh Ride,” “Greensleeves” and “A Christmas
Festival.”

The Symphonic Winds will also perform the “Glorioso” symphony by Japanese composer Yasuhide Ito. Ito’s symphony depicts a time in Japanese history (ca. 1603-1867) when the Shogunate government issued an edict banning religion altogether in response to the growing Christian population that was gaining a political influence. Mass arrests and executions of nearly 6,000 Christians soon followed between 1614 and 1639.

“The symphony is full of drama and raw emotion with several instrumental and vocal soloists bringing this very personal composition to life,” Daughters said. This concert marks the first time the Fillmore Wind Band has performed at Xavier University. Members of the band are professional musicians and varying university faculty from the Greater Cincinnati area.
The Fillmore Wind Band, official namesake of Cincinnati native and CCM graduate Henry Fillmore has quickly become the region’s premier professional wind band. The band has performed all over the tri-state area. The ensemble will be performing Timothy Mahr’s “Fantasia in G,” based off Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from his Ninth Symphony, William Schuman’s “Chester,” Richard Wagner’s “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” and Henry Fillmore’s march, “Americans We.”
This concert is one of many during the month of December for the Xavier Department of Music and Theatre. The many choirs around campus will kick off the holiday season will be at
the annual Lessons and Carols at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 8 in Bellarmine Chapel. Other concerts will be put on in the Gallagher Student Center Theatre. Various ensembles will be taking the stage to perform as part of the Christmas Music Festival, including the Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble and several choirs.

Admission is free and all are welcome. To cap off the many performances during the Christmas season at Xavier, the Edgecliff Vocal Ensemble will be featured in the production of Amahl and the Night Visitors put on by Madcap Puppets and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra under the direction of the Chair of the Department of Music and Theatre Tom Merrill. Tickets are being sold at $25 for adults and $10 for students and children.
Performances are being held in Gallagher Student Theatre on Dec. 19, 21 and 22. More information can be found online at xavier.edu/music as well as in handouts found in Edgecliff Hall.