Symphonic Band to perform holiday concert

The Idaho State University Symphonic Band, under the direction of Monte C. Grisé, will perform a holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4, in the Joseph C. and Cheryl H. Jensen Grand Concert Hall of the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center.

The performance will feature an eclectic mix of music from standard wind band literature to orchestra transcriptions like Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Jesters” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Slava and Variations on ‘America’” by Charles Ives. The band will also perform “A Movement for Rosa” by Mark Camphouse, which is a piece honoring civil rights heroine Rosa Parks.

The Symphonic Band also will feature guest vocal soloist Aric Schneller, who will perform the famous Pucinni aria “Nessun Dorma” from the opera “Turandot.” Schneller, a sabbatical replacement for Dr. Patrick Brooks in jazz and trombone, is an artist of many talents with the ability to sing, play, compose, and teach music at the highest levels.

A former operatic tenor, Schneller has sung professionally with the Ohio Light Opera Co., the Boston Lyric Opera Co., and the del’ Arte Opera Ensemble of New York City.While living and working in New York City from 2000 to 2005, Schneller toured the United States with his trademark clinic, “The Art of Singing the Trombone,” garnering critical acclaim at the 2005 Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington, D.C., and the 2005 International Trombone Festival in New Orleans. He currently is teaching music appreciation, studio trombone, jazz lab I and jazz improvisation.

The band will conclude the concert with a holiday surprise.

Tickets may be purchased at the door at a cost of $5 for adults, $3 for faculty and staff, $2 for precollege students. The event is free to ISU students. Children under age 6 will not be admitted.