Rozsa Center to host three holiday concerts -- Dec. 13, 14, 15

Enjoy three different holiday concerts this week at the Rozsa. (Photo courtesy Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts)

HOUGHTON -- Celebrate the holidays with music at the Rozsa! Join the Rozsa Center and the Michigan Tech Department of Visual and Performing Arts for three holiday inspired concerts this week: First, a free Trombone Choir on Thursday, Dec. 13; next, enjoy Gifts of Music, a concert by the Superior Wind Symphony on Friday, Dec. 14; and the Michigan Tech Choirs performing Celebration of Lights on Saturday, Dec. 15. All shows are at 7:30 p.m. at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.

According to Michael Christianson, director of Bands and conductor of both Trombone Choir and Gifts of Music, "The Trombone Choir concert presents music by the melodious Michigan Tech Trombone Choir in the beautiful Rozsa Lobby and will include a pianist and a vocalist, with other surprises! Then on Friday, The Superior Wind Symphony brings musical gifts that are varied and diverse for you at the end of this year. The Gifts of Music program includes 'The Sussex Mummer’s Christmas Carol' by Percy Grainger and Mike Christianson; 'Three Moods of Hanukkah,' arranged by Lenny Niehaus; two traditional carols, 'Silent Night' and 'O Tannebaum,' co-arranged by Wynton Marsalis; and 'Variations on a Shaker Melody' by  Aaron Copland -- among other holiday-inspired songs."

Jared Anderson, associate professor of Music and director of Choral Activities at Michigan Tech, describes A Celebration of Lights: "The choirs will sing of light from the menorah, the moon, stars, warm homes, a cradle. We hope that people from across the Keweenaw will take some time to join us for this concert. We are especially looking forward to collaborating with the Copper Country Bells, a local group of handbell players who will join the combined choirs for two numbers on the program."*

Trombone Choir is free. Tickets for Gifts of Music and Celebration of Lights are on sale now: $13 for adults, $5 for youth, and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee. Tickets are available by phone at (906) 487-2073, online at mtu.edu/rozsa, in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex, or the night of the show at the Rozsa box office, which opens two hours prior to performances.

(Inset photos courtesy Rozsa Center)

* Click here and on each event to access a program.

Rozsa to host "Michigan Music" -- from Stevie Wonder to Count Basie Orchestra to powwow music -- Feb. 3

Michael Christianson, Michigan Tech's director of bands, is pictured here, right, with Cat Saraza (2017 Winter Carnival Queen candidate), left, and Scott Robinson of NYC in mid-performance with Michigan Tech's Superior Wind Symphony. (Photo courtesy Michigan Tech University)

HOUGHTON -- Did you know that as a child prodigy, Stevie Wonder signed with a Motown record label at the age of 11? That after the death of Count Basie, the Pontiac, Mich., native Thaddeus Jones took over the leadership of the legendary Count Basie Orchestra? That students majoring in Engineering, Chemistry, Forestry, and Business currently also perform in a wind ensemble and take classes in music composition-at Michigan Tech?

The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts and Department of Visual and Performing Arts are proud to present the Superior Wind Symphony in a concert titled "Michigan Music." The performance will be led by Michael Christianson, Michigan Tech’s Director of Bands, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3, in the Rozsa Center.

According to Christianson, "Michigan Music is a collection of music by Michigan composers, arrangers and communities for wind band. The range of music includes a classic march, Bach for clarinet choir, a piece for hand clappers, powwow music, a piece that captures the inner mind of a single dancer, several beautiful ballads, a joyous Motown tune, and a modern Rag. Michigan Composers featured will be Pulitzer Prize winner William Bolcom, Grammy Winner Stevie Wonder, Thad Jones, Warren Benson, George Kenny, and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. The Michigan arrangers are H. Robert Reynolds and Clare Fischer, and they arranged music by J.S. Bach, and Morten Lauridsen."

Tickets for Michigan Music are on sale now: $13 for adults, $5 for youth, and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee. Tickets are available by phone at (906) 487-2073, online at Rozsa.mtu.edu, in person at the Central Ticketing Office or at the Rozsa Box Office the evening of the performance. Please note the Rozsa Box Office only opens two hours prior to performances.

Superior Wind Symphony to present "In the Throes of Radios" concert Apr. 24

HOUGHTON -- At 7:30 p.m. this Friday, April 24, in the McArdle Theatre, Michigan Tech’s Superior Wind Symphony, under the direction of Mike Christianson, will present their final concert of the 2014-15 Season, titled "In the Throes of Radios."

The audience will experience music that owes a debt to the invention of radio. This world-premier event features music by Michigan Tech's resident composer, Elizabeth Meyer, as well as music by George Gershwin, Ottorino Respighi, Morton Gould, and John Philip Sousa.

Also available, the night of the performance is a "VPA Livestream" of the music, at http://vpa-live.mtu.edu, for those who are not able to be present for the event. (Please note: this link will not be active until the time of the event.)

Tickets are $13 for adults, $5 for youth (17 and under), and free for Michigan Tech Students. To purchase tickets, call (906) 487-2073, go online at rozsa.mtu.edu, or visit Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC), 600 MacInnes Drive, in Houghton. SDC box office hours are 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday and noon - 8 p.m. Sunday. Please note the Rozsa Box Office is closed during regular business hours and will only open two hours prior to show times.

Superior Wind Symphony to present midwinter concert, "II: Day Into Night: II," Feb. 28

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Technological University’s Superior Wind Symphony, under the direction of Mike Christianson, will perform a concert at the Rozsa Center at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015.

Titled "II: Day Into Night: II," the concert presents music for winds that deals with the ideas of night, day, moon, and light. Listeners will find it perfect for the deep midwinter time in the UP.

Christianson describes the performance as a mirror of the beauty to be found in spite of the harsh winter elements: "Morning, noon, night, winter, storm, moon, sunshine, primeval heavenly light, and eternal darkness. Music to remind that darkness, too, can contain beauty -- and light is something we can look forward to."

The evening’s music is composed by: Percy Grainger, J.S. Bach, J.C. Heed, Ron Nelson, Gustav Mahler, Steven Bryant, Bruce Yurko and Libby Larsen.

According to Christianson, "Libby Larsen's piece about the moon features eight different "moon poems," by Billy Collins, Emily Dickinson, Mother Goose, Lorenz Hart, Kahlil Gibran, Langston Hughes, Thomas Moore and Ralph Waldo Emerson. These "poems" are performed by: Dollcie Webb, Kathryn Van Susante, Trish Helsel, Willie Melton, Anna Ehl, Jared Anderson, Katie Plummer and Chris Plummer.

Also available the night of the performance is a "VPA Livestream" of the music at http://vpa-live.mtu.edu, for those who are not able to be present for the event. (Please note: this link will not be active until the time of the event.)

Tickets are $13 for adults, $5 for youth (17 and under), and free for Michigan Tech Students with the Experience Tech fee. To purchase tickets, call (906) 487-2073, go online at rozsa.mtu.edu, or visit Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC), 600 MacInnes Drive, in Houghton. SDC box office hours are 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday and noon - 8 p.m. on Sunday. Please note the Rozsa Box Office is closed during regular business hours and will only open two hours prior to show times. For more details, please contact Michael Christianson, 906-487-2825, mchristi@mtu.edu.

Superior Wind Symphony to present "Ensembles United" -- free concert Dec. 4 in Rozsa Lobby

HOUGHTON -- Members of The Superior Wind Symphony present "Ensembles United," with ensembles from different wind families coming together in brotherhood and sisterhood to create a more wonderful array of free music! In honor of the 68th anniversary of the United States' decision on Dec. 4, 1945, to join the United Nations, The Superior Wind Symphony will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013, in the Rozsa Lobby. This performance is free!

Several self-started small ensembles of the saxophone, woodwind and brass varieties have materialized with music prepared, needing an excuse to perform! In addition, some of these ensembles have worked with Michigan Tech student composers from Dr. Libby Meyers' class, creating a Dec. 4 concert that will feature music by great composers of many eras, plus recently created music by Michigan Tech students.

Experience 1913 Calumet with Superior Wind Symphony Nov. 9 at Calumet Theatre

HOUGHTON -- In "1913 Re-visited" the Superior Wind Symphony (SWS) looks at the year 1913 from a wind music perspective, with the advantage of hindsight. See the Superior Wind Symphony, Michigan Tech's premier wind ensemble, under the direction of Mike Christianson, as they take a musical tour of the historic year 1913 at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Calumet Theatre.

You will hear wind works by world-class composers that existed in the world in 1913, but were almost certainly never heard by one audience -- works by Sousa, Mahler, Sibelius (a recently discovered work; this will be a regional premier), Holst, and Grainger. You will hear examples of the new music that emerged in the US right around 1913, works by W.C. Handy and James Reese Europe. Plus, a work that represents a culmination of a genre that took the US by storm in 1913 (Astor Piazzolla), and a very recent work by a living composer (John Mackey) that quite literally sounds like the processing of iron ore.

For this concert in the historic Calumet Theatre, the SWS will be joined by Lara Neves, mezzo soprano, and will also feature solo work from Eponine Zenker on piano and Randy Bufanda on alto saxophone.

Tickets are adults $13, youth $5, Michigan Tech students free with Experience Tech Fee. To purchase tickets, call (906) 487-2073, go online at Rozsa.mtu.edu, or visit Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC). For this performance, tickets will also be on sale at the Calumet Theatre box office.