LASO NEWS RELEASE
Los Alamos Symphony Orchestra presents their annual Holiday Concert, Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7:00 p.m. at Crossroads Bible Church.
This free event is provided to the community as a gift from the Los Alamos Symphony. This concert includes some favorite traditions, including a sing-along of holiday favorites and a raffle for a member of the audience to conduct “Jingle Bells.” After the concert, there will be a visit from Santa and treats to share with the musicians.
Jeremy Bleich, a favorite conductor for school-age youth throughout town will be conducting the Los Alamos Symphony. “The music was selected mostly for the arrangements. In addition to looking for music that would represent as many holiday favorites as possible, I am also interested in arrangements that highlight the players in the orchestra and are well conceived and constructed,” Bleich stated when asked about the music for this year’s Holiday Concert.
Two of the arrangements that will be played were created by Bleich. On why he chose to arrange the two songs, Bleich stated, “”Carol of the Bells” was chosen because of a gift from Wendi Dressen a few years ago. I wanted to play it in the Los Alamos Middle School winter concert when her son Emmitt, who plays bass, was in the group, but it was already programmed on the concert by another ensemble.” Bleich decided to make his own arrangement for the Los Alamos Symphony since both Emmitt and Wendy will be playing in the Holiday Concert.
Bleich also arranged a classic from a favorite cartoon, and said, “”Christmas Time Is Here” is possibly my favorite Christmas song from the Peanuts Charlie Brown Christmas. I love the beautiful jazzy feel and memorable melody and harmonies in this song. It suggests quite a bit when orchestrated for a classical orchestra and was a lot of fun to do.”
Jeremy Bleich is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who incorporates a wide palette of sound and culture into the process of creating music. He has toured extensively across Europe and the U.S playing bass and electronics with the critically acclaimed trio “Birth” and with the Zevk Ensemble. He resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is involved with presenting new music on his Grasshopper Music record label, teaching Orchestra at Los Alamos Public Schools and conducting with the Santa Fe Youth Symphony. Jeremy has played and/or recorded with musicians as diverse as Count Vu, Joe Maneri, Chris Jonas, Carmen Castaldi, and songwriters Jason White, Keven McCarthy, and Rick Elias. He holds a degree in music composition from Cleveland State University. Jeremy is excited to conduct the Los Alamos Symphony for this very special concert.
The symphony will play a variety of musical styles, from excerpts of the Corelli Christmas Concerto to the exciting Realms of Glory, there will be holiday favorites for all ages. With a full symphony orchestra, including brass, woodwinds, strings and percussion, many different instruments can be highlighted during the concert. An audience favorite of this concert has always been “Sleigh Ride” – a favorite for the Symphony to play as well.
The Los Alamos Symphony Orchestra (LASO) Board of Directors has designated the annual holiday concert as their scholarship fundraising event. Since Jan. 2016, dozens of High School musicians have received funds in support of their college studies. We hope that our support encourages them to pursue a life-long interest in studying and playing music. Please join us by contributing at the door, or clicking on the Donate link at LosAlamosSymphony.org. All donations are tax deductible.