‘Tis the season for holiday celebrations and UR’s musical groups are getting into the spirit with a great selection of concerts for you to see.

Kick off the celebrations with Vocal Point, an all-female a cappella group, who will hold its annual holiday concert Friday in the Eisenberg Rotunda of Schlegel Hall at 3 p.m. Have some punch and cookies and listen to traditional christmas carols and contemporary holiday songs.

The Yellowjackets and the Midnight Ramblers will be joining Vocal Point as special guests, so don’t miss out on this special celebration.

Admission for the Vocal Point concert is $5 and you can buy your ticket at the Common Market or at the door.

Then, check out the University Gospel Choir, under the direction of Alvin Parris, professor of music, who will present a concert in Strong Auditorium Friday at 8 p.m.

Admission for the Gospel Choir concert is $3 for students and senior citizens and $5 for general admission.

Saturday evening, sit back and watch the Symphony Orchestra present a concert in Strong Auditorium at 8 p.m. Here you can catch some classics such as “Tragic Overture” by Brahms, Vaughn Williams’ “Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis” and “Der Rosenkavalier Suite” by Strauss.

The Symphony Orchestra is a blend of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as talented musicians from the greater Rochester area. The orchestra is directed by David Harman, professor of music. This concert is free and open to the public.

If you haven’t been concerted out by this time, the UR Chamber Orchestra will be having a concert Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. The orchestra will also be directed by David Harman and the performance will include Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 and Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.”

The concert will be in Strong Auditorium and is also free and open to the publc.

For more information on any of these concerts, contact the music department at x52828.

Roberts can be reached at rroberts@campustimes.org.



Fighting against poverty in Rochester with the Urban Fellows Program

Urban Fellows, an annual program hosted by the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and funded by Americorp, gives undergraduate students the opportunity to work with local nonprofits over the summer — and get paid for it. 

New vocal jazz program at Eastman

Not a trace of the thunderous applause from just a moment earlier lingers in the air; instead, the crowd is hushed, breath caught in their chests for fear of breaking the spell.

Dietary liberation

If you are a more food-safe person than myself, you may see the obvious issue with adding raw meat to a cooked dish. In theory, this should be fine, assuming you wait for the meat to cook through.