Right in Our Region
Holiday Pops Concert Promises Variety
By Peggy Werner
A
ward-winning conductor Andrew Constantine began his musical studies at a young age and has spent his life honing the skills needed to bring out the best in musicians. As Music Director of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, he’s about to conduct the annual Holiday Pops concert for the first time. “It’s a mainstay of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, something the community has loved for decades and looks forward to every year,” he says. The Philharmonic will perform the program in five cities in Northeast Indiana. In Fort Wayne, the production will be performed six times over two weekends at the historic Embassy Theatre, 125 W. Jefferson Blvd. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18 and 2 p.m. Dec. 19. Highlights of the program include traditional Christmas songs, dancing, visits from Santa and Mrs. Clause, a carol singalong, and Handel’s rousing “Hallelujah” chorus. Lyric soprano and stage actress Lisa Vroman will be guest vocalist. 16
Smart Living Fort Wayne
December 2021 • I
“The program almost chooses itself, with traditional and well-known Christmas classics that have a wide appeal, as well as involvement by Fort Wayne’s Children’s Choir and its Dance Collective,” he says. Constantine will also include a Christmas Overture by English composer and conductor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose music has received more exposure in recent years. “Knowing Coleridge-Taylor had this gorgeous overture, I wanted to be sure to include it. I thought it would be a ‘first’ for Fort Wayne, but how wrong I was! It seems this wonderfully gifted composer, who was born of mixed race in 1875 and tragically died at the young age of 37, is already a firm favorite of our audience.” In 1904, on his first tour of the U.S., Coleridge-Taylor was invited to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt. It was rare for a man of African descent to receive such an invitation. His music was performed widely throughout the U.S. and he sought to integrate traditional African music into the classical realm.
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