Local residents are invited to join Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students, faculty, and staff for the Institute’s annual holiday concert on Sunday, Dec. 13, in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC).  The formal program begins at 3 p.m., although the audience is invited to enter the concert hall beginning at 2:30 p.m. for a pre-concert performance by the 518 Tango Orchestrette.

The Holiday Concert brings together a collection of music drawn from folk traditions – both real and imagined.

The Concert Choir will present a set of arrangements of folk music from cultures including Bulgarian, Hungarian, and American. The Orchestra will present a performance of Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World.” 

Members of the Rensselaer Orchestra will again be joined onstage by members of the Grammy-winning Albany Symphony Orchestra.

This year’s performance, which will be led by Institute conductor Nicholas DeMaison, is an invitation for people in the campus community and the greater Capital Region community to celebrate the season with a selection of festive music.

The 90-minute concert is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees are asked to register online at https://webforms.rpi.edu/holiday-concert.

The full program is as follows:

Pre-Concert music performed by the 518 Tango Orchestrette

• El Choclo, Ángel Villoldo
• My Happiness, Yefim Rosenfeld
• Valse à Margaux, Richard Galliano
• “Winter” from Estaciones Porteñas, Astor Piazzola
• Oblivion, Astor Piazzola
• Libertango, Astor Piazzola

Performed by the Rensselaer Concert Choir:

• Dragana I Slaveya, traditional Bulgarian setting by Philp Kutev
• Abendlied, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger
• Shenandoah, traditional American setting by the Rensselaer Concert Choir
• Hortobágy, traditional Hungarian setting by Györgi Ligeti

Rensselaer Concert Choir and Rensselaer Brass Choir

• O Magnum Mysterium, Giovanni Gabrieli
• Rensselaer Brass Choir
• Canzon per Sonar in Echo Duodecimi Toni, Giovanni Gabrieli

Rensselaer Orchestra with members of the Albany Symphony

Symphony no.9 (From the New World), Antonín Dvořák

• I. Adagio – Allegro
• II. Largo
• III. Scherzo: Molto vivace
• IV. Allegro con fuoco