STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Wood River Orchestra injected a little merriment into last year’s Christmas concert with a faux snowball fight that started on stage and ended up in the audience.
See what the fun-loving musicians and their intrepid conductor Brad Hershey have to unwrap for their Holiday 2018 Concert on Sunday.
The orchestra will perform its annual holiday concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, at the new Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum.
The concert is free.
And a new tuba player—Harrison Hartman, a newcomer to the valley who works at the Wood River YMCA-- is bound to add a little ooom-pah-pah to the occasion.
The concert will celebrate the magic of the holiday season and the music that makes it special with nostalgic Christmas favorites, plus Grinch-inspired tunes sure to make kids’ eyes get wide.
Among the songs: “The Christmas Waltz,” “A Vaughan Williams Christmas,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “The Polar Express,” “North Pole Workshop,” “Festive Songs of Hanukah,” A Holst Christmas,” and “All Is Calm.”
“For many of our musicians, the holiday concert is always a favorite,” said Hershey. “We feel an excitement and an energy from our audience for this concert that just makes performing a lot of fun. Our holiday concert is the perfect way to celebrate a very special time of year, with great music in a relaxed intimate setting.”
The orchestra was founded in 2007 to offer a place to perform for those who may have played in an orchestra or band in high school or college. It also was designed to enrich the lives of those who hear the orchestra perform.
The orchestra performs three main concerts each year, and some of the musicians within the orchestra perform in small groups at community events across the Wood River Valley.
All ages and abilities are welcome to join—the orchestra even provides music lessons and help with refurbishing instruments for those just getting back into the swing of it. The orchestra is in particular need of strings players right now after losing several strings players who moved away.
The board recently named Fred Gray as the new board president; he is joined by longtime valley resident Ann Erickson, whose husband Bob Erickson has played viola for the orchestra for a decade.
For information, visit www.wrcorchestra.org.