(Orange, CA) - Santiago Canyon College (SCC) will Celebrate America with its spring concert in the SCC Gymnasium on Saturday, May 25, at 7 p.m. Featuring the SCC Community Chorale, SCC Collegiate Choir, SCC faculty and special guest, the Christian Youth Symphony of Irvine, SCC’s Celebrate America concert showcases the work that celebrates the country.
SCC professors Dr. Kelly Cho, a concert pianist, guitarists Will Lennertz and James Granitto, and soprano Jane Kim will share the stage with the Christian Youth Symphony of Irvine under the direction of Orange County School of the Arts (OSHA) Chamber Orchestra Faculty Dr. Elliott Bark and SCC’s two choirs directed by Lee Lee Sawicki and Dr. Binh Vu in this Memorial Day celebration show.
Celebrate America includes Bark’s “Arirang Festival,” Jim Papoulis’ “Music Changes the World,” Rollo DilWorth’s “America, The Dream,” Ola Gjeilo’s “The Rose,” American folk selections and the Mary McDonald arrangement of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 23” and Handel’s “Rejoice Greatly” from Messiah will additionally be played, but the concert’s centerpiece is a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95: From the New World,” or “New World Symphony.”
Written during the first year of the Czech-born Dvořák’s tenure as the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in the United States, “New World Symphony” incorporated the composer’s reflections on his new American setting and premiered with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in 1893. Additionally, a tape recording of “New World Symphony” accompanied Astronaut Neil Armstrong on his Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
Tickets, $10 for students, staff, faculty, children, and seniors, and $14 for general admission, are available at the SCC Bookstore, online at sccollege.edu/CelebrateAmerica, and at the door on the evening of the show. The SCC Gymnasium is at 8045 E. Chapman Ave. in Orange. Event parking is free.
About Santiago Canyon College
Santiago Canyon College (SCC) serves more than 17,000 credit and noncredit students each semester. In 2017, SCC was ranked #13 among the 50 Best Community Colleges in the U.S. by College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources. The college prepares students for transfer to four-year institutions and careers, and provides courses for personal and professional development, as well as customized training for business and industry. The college is recognized for its adult education program which keeps the working adult - and senior - in mind by offering flexible schedules, and community locations. Serving the residents of Anaheim Hills, Orange, Tustin, and Villa Park, SCC is one of two comprehensive colleges under the auspices of the Rancho Santiago Community College District.
###
