Briar Cliff University Media Announcement

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Briar Cliff University’s Department of Music will present “Christmas at the Orpheum” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18, at the historic Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Sioux City. The concert will feature hundreds of the region’s finest musicians, led by the distinguished talents of the Briar Cliff University Singers and the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.

Included in this year’s program will be the Siouxland Choral Artists, the area’s only selectively auditioned adult choir, members of Sioux City’s Grace United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, and The Lewis Central High School Chamber Choir of Council Bluffs, Iowa, performing under the co-direction of Briar Cliff University alumni Brian Johnson and Rachael Wragge.

Soprano Shannon Salyards and pianist Richard Steinbach will be highlighted as soloists and Dr. Sean Burton, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Briar Cliff University, will serve as artistic director and conductor for the event.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens and students and can be purchased by calling Briar Cliff University at 712-279-5417. No reserved seating. Doors open at 7 p.m. “Christmas at the Orpheum” is supported in part by the Margaret Ann Martin Everist Foundation.

“I am excited about the wildly inclusive programming for this year’s ‘Christmas at the Orpheum,’” said Dr. Burton. “The support of the Margaret Ann Martin Everist Foundation has enabled us to expand the size of the orchestra and keep ticket prices low without sacrificing quality,” he explained. “Another fantastic aspect of this program is the key involvement of several Briar Cliff alumni. Jamie Schmidt will play the Orpheum’s fully restored Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ and the outstanding choral direction of Brian Johnson and Rachael Wragge speaks not only to their individual skills, but also represents a lineage of excellence with regards to Briar Cliff’s long-established choral tradition.”

A diverse program of uplifting seasonal music, “Christmas at the Orpheum” will offer a variety of a cappella choral, orchestral, concerto and choral-orchestral selections by composers from several different historical periods and nationalities. Works will include Christmas carol arrangements by Mack Wilberg, director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the concluding segment of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ choral-orchestral masterpiece, “Dona Nobis Pacem.”

Choral-only segments will range from the otherworldly a cappella settings of Eric Whitacre to rousing African-American Spiritual arrangements of Moses Hogan. Adolphe Adam’s famous “O Holy Night” and the first movement of Dmitry’s Shostakovich’s festive “Piano Concerto No. 2” will be performed by soloists Salyards and Steinbach, respectively. The symphony will be featured in selections by two British composers, the North American premiere of Nigel Hess’ “A Christmas Overture” and Frederick Delius’ lesser-known setting of “Sleigh Ride.”

Briar Cliff University is a Catholic institution with an enrollment of more than 1,100 students from 28 states. Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal arts and career preparation in an environment of care and compassion. For more information, please visit www.briarcliff.edu.