The Gateway Concert Band will present its winter concerts, “Good Tidings to All,” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, at the White River High School auditorium and at 7:15 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, at the Enumclaw High School auditorium.
The concerts are an eclectic mixture of Christmas, Hanukkah and other seasonal music.
There is no admission charge, but a $5 donation is recommended.
The Gateway Concert Band is a community band based in Enumclaw. It is directed by Jack Prindle. Formed in March of 1996, it has presented more than 170 performances in its 15-year history. The band is open to any interested adult and competent high school instrumentalists, without audition. It rehearses Monday evenings from 7 to 9 at Enumclaw Middle School.
The holiday program begins with a rousing arrangement of the traditional Christmas song, “Good Tidings to All.” Next, the band memorializes the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor with a piece entitled “Elegy.” “A Hanukkah Festival” is an engaging medley of three traditional Hanukkah songs performed under the direction of assistant conductor Stephanie Magnusson. Following an arrangement of the ancient tune “Greensleeves,” the first part of the concert concludes with another medley, “Christmas on Broadway.”
The second portion of the concert opens with a setting of the Christmas carol “Angels We Have Heard on High” entitled “And the Mountains Echoed: Gloria!” Assistant conductor Tim Fleming leads the band in “An Irving Berlin Christmas.” Prindle is the featured soloist, playing his flugelhorn while assistant conductor Todd Frazier directs “The Christmas Song.” Next is a challenging and inventive arrangement of traditional Christmas carols “Winterfest.” More modern, “pop” Christmas favorites are the songs in the medley “A Most Wonderful Christmas.” The concert concludes with Leroy Anderson’s winter classic “Sleigh Ride.”
For information or directions, call 360-825-5369 or visit www.gatewayconcertband.org.
