WAVERLY— More than 120 musicians will join forces to perform a wide range of holiday music at the Wartburg Community Symphony’s Holiday Feast Concert Sunday, December 15, at 3 p.m. in Neumann Auditorium, Wartburg College, Waverly.
Musicians from both the Waverly-Shell Rock High School Orchestra and the Mason City High School Orchestra will sit among the symphony’s 35 musicians to add their talents to the holiday sounds. Dr. Daniel Kaplunas, music director and conductor of the Wartburg Community Symphony, will serve as music director and conductor.
The Waverly-Shell Rock High School Orchestra of 41 freshmen through seniors perform five concerts a year. In late October, they held a well-attended Orchestra Waltz Night of lessons and dance music. Proceeds benefitted the orchestra’s musicians who are planning a trip to New York City next March. There, the students will perform at the Sony Plaza, participate in a master clinic with a university musician, visit various performance venues, and attend two Broadway musicals.
High school orchestra teacher, Lori Nelson, has shaped the Waverly-Shell Rock High Orchestra program for 15 years. She is a graduate of Wartburg College and plans to complete law school at Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota, in May 2014.
Nelson said, “It is a thrill to see what Dr. Kaplunas is doing to grow the string program at Wartburg College. This collaboration is a great venture for Wartburg and Waverly-Shell-Shell Rock.”
The Mason City High School Orchestra consists of 52 students—also freshman through seniors. The orchestra has a long-standing history, touring nationally and internationally—this year, to St. Louis. It participates in the annual Mohawk Follies, a variety show in which it performs music from memory with choreography.
This is the third year that Lauren Bell has directed the Mason City High School Orchestra. She received degrees in double bass performance and music education from Indiana University. She performs in the Wartburg Community Symphony, Fort Dodge Area Symphony, North Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony.
Bell said, “This performance will provide a huge learning opportunity for the students by being able to play next to students with more experience, work with Dr. Kaplunas, and learn what it is like to perform music at the collegiate level.”
The eight numbers on the program are Salvation Is Created, Troika, Chosen Kalev Mazel Tov, In the Beak Midwinter, Ukrainian Bell Carol, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Christmas Festival, and Traditional Slavic Christmas Music. The audience will help conclude the program by joining in a carol sing-along.
A reception follows the concert, sponsored by Bremer County Mutual Insurance Association of Waverly.
Reserve concert tickets by calling the Wartburg College Ticket Office at 319-352-8691 or 800-772-2085, ext. 8691. Tickets are also available at the door after 2 p.m. that Sunday. Cost is $16.50 for an adult and $6.50 for a student. Wartburg students with college IDs are admitted free of charge.
The Wartburg Community Symphony enhances the cultural vitality of Northeast Iowa by sharing symphonic music through concerts and educational programming.
Photo captions: A mass orchestra, including the high school orchestras directed by Lauren Bell and Lori Nelson, will be conducted by Dr. Daniel Kaplunas, music director of the Wartburg Community Symphony, at its December 15 Holiday Feast Concert at 3 p.m. in Waverly.
