Performing a special concert titled Holiday Pops, the symphony orchestra will feature the Western Carolina Community Chorus under the direction of James Dooley, and soloists Alison Trainer and William Martin. The performance will be conducted by Daniel Meyer (pictured right), the Asheville Symphony music director.

The show will offer a wide variety of holiday and Christmas favorites such as “Frosty the Snowman,” “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The audience also will participate in a sing-a-long featuring audience favorites “Joy to the World” and “Deck the Halls,” among many more carols.

Trainer has appeared with the Asheville Symphony in “Ein Deutsches Requiem” in 2006. She won first place in the 2005 Liederkranz Competition and second place in the Opera Index Competition. In Baltimore, Trainer performed as Adele in “Die Fledermaus” with the Annapolis Opera and recently sang in Brahms “Ein Deutsches Requiem” with the Annapolis Symphony and the Naval Academy Choir. She has been a recitalist at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Cleveland Art Song Festival, Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival, Schwabacher Young Artist Recital Series at the San Francisco Opera Center and the Glimmerglass Opera.

Martin, a tenor and associate professor of music at WCU, appears regularly with many major Asheville performing organizations, including the Asheville Symphony, the Asheville Lyric Opera and the Asheville Choral Society. Last November, he appeared as Hoffmann in Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann” and Sam in Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” in the Asheville Lyric Opera gala performances. Martin also sang the role of Pinkerton in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” last March.  For nearly a decade, Martin sang leading tenor roles in German opera houses such as Mainz, Dortmund, Bremen, Muenster and the “Semper Oper” in Dresden. He recently was the tenor soloist in “Elijah” with the Asheville Choral Society and in Mozart’s “Requiem” with the Carolina Concert Choir of Hendersonville.

“The sounds of Christmas are a legacy for all in our communities. These sounds will come alive in the Holiday Pops concert through the magical sound of a symphony orchestra,” said Robert Kehrberg, dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. “The Asheville Symphony Orchestra is a treasure to our region with professional performers throughout our region and nation. Anyone who attends will be impressed and changed by this concert.”

Tickets for the event cost $25. Admission for senior citizens and WCU faculty and staff will cost $20, and admission for student 5 years or older will cost $5. Tickets may be purchased online at http://wcufapac.ticketsxchange.com/.

For more information about the Asheville Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Pops performance at Western Carolina University, contact the Fine and Performing Arts Center at (828) 227-2479.

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Last modified: Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007