NEWS

Calendar editors: Included are concerts on Dec. 2, 3, 4, 7, 12 and 13

Children's concert offers `petting zoo' in UNC-CH music department series

By ANDREA BELOFF UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Children can “pet” baritones and violins at a Young People's Jazz Concert Dec. 13, one of six upcoming performances sponsored by the music department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra will perform the Dec. 13 concert, designed for families and children, at 10:30 a.m. in Hill Hall auditorium. Orchestra members will meet with the audience in small groups for an instrument “petting zoo,” in which the musicians demonstrate the sounds of their instruments and the techniques of jazz.

The orchestra also will play “This is Jazz!,” a 30-minute selection commissioned by the Jazz Foundation of North Carolina for the orchestra's educational programs. The 18-member orchestra features professional musicians from across the state, including educators from UNC-CH, UNC-Greensboro and N.C. Central, East Carolina, Pembroke and Duke universities.

Tickets are $3 at the Carolina Union Box Office, (919) 962-1449, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

On Dec. 12, the jazz orchestra will celebrate the release of its first compact disc with a holiday concert at 8 p.m. in Hill Hall auditorium. The program will feature a Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Also performed will be music from the Stan Kenton and Glenn Miller orchestras and original new arrangements by the orchestra's Gregg Gelb and William Fritz.

Tickets, $12 for the public and $8 for students, are available at the Carolina Union Box Office. The CDs will be sold at the event, which will be followed by a reception with orchestra members.

Other upcoming concerts, all in Hill Hall auditorium, include the UNC-CH Symphony Orchestra's free performance of “The American Festival Overture” by Brahms, “Pavane” by Faure, “Christmas Concerto” by Corelli and “Symphony No. 2” by Howard Hanson. Conducted by Tonu Kalam, the symphony will start at 8 p.m. Dec. 2.

On Dec. 3, the UNC-CH Jazz Bands, directed by James Ketch and Scott Warner, will perform at 8 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

A free concert by the UNC-CH Chamber Singers, conducted by Susan Klebanow, and the UNC-CH Consort of Viols, directed by Brent Wissick, will feature works by Schutz and Bach Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.

In a special performance, the UNC-CH Symphonic Band will team with the Duke University Wind Symphony to offer a free concert Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. in Duke's Baldwin Auditorium.

For more information about the music department's concerts, call (919) 962-1039.

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(Beloff is a junior journalism and political science major from Norfolk, Mass.)

Music Department contact: Will Anderson (919) 962-1039

News Services contact: Laura J. Toler