SSO to present ‘A Christmas Celebration of Winds and Percussion’

The Starkville-��Ƶ Symphony Orchestra will present its annual Criss Christmas Concert Tuesday [Dec. 1] in historic Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium. (Photo by Megan Bean)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Starkville-��Ƶ Symphony Orchestra will present its annual Criss Christmas Concert Tuesday [Dec. 1] in historic Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium.

Free to all, the 7:30 p.m. program will feature music for wind ensemble, including classic band literature and Christmas favorites. Works featured include those of Haydn Wood (1882-1959), Clifton Williams (1923-76), Leroy Anderson (1908-75), Alfred Reed (1921-2005), Kenneth Alford (1881-1945) and Percy Granger (1882-1961).

Under the direction of ��Ƶ music professor Michael Brown, the group’s selections will include, among others, Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” (1948) and “A Christmas Festival” (1950), along with Reed’s “Russian Christmas Music” (1944).

Guest conductor Lynn Dean of Adairsville, Georgia, will lead a trumpet trio for Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday” (1954). Having performed this piece together for the past four decades, the trio consists of Brown, along with Pat Gallagher, director of bands at West Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia, and Dean’s husband, Phil C. Dean.

The program is being made possible by the J.W. Criss Foundation’s generous support of the Starkville-��Ƶ Symphony Association and ��Ƶ Lyceum Committee.

For additional concert information, contact Brown at 662-325-3070 or mbrown@colled.msstate.edu.

Founded in 1969, the Starkville-��Ƶ Symphony Association is a non-profit volunteer organization whose members work to educate, enlighten and share classical music with the city, university campus and other communities in the Golden Triangle region. Producing high-quality musical events and increasing awareness for the arts are its primary missions. For more, visit and .

In addition to ��Ƶ and the City of Starkville, major association contributors include the J.W. Criss Foundation, Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Renasant Bank, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Columbus-based Gildea Foundation.

The association accepts tax-deductible donations via the ��Ƶ Foundation. To contribute, contact Lynn Durr at 662-325-8918 or ldurr@advservices.msstate.edu.

��Ƶ is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

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