Salisbury SymphonyOrchestra Holiday Concert December 11

SALISBURY, MD--The Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Thomas G. Elliot, presents its annual holiday concert on Saturday, December 11, in Holloway Hall Auditorium on the campus of Salisbury State University. Performance times are 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., with a reception to meet the soloists and orchestra members immediately following the 8 p.m. performance.

Melissa Tardiff, harpist, and Joanna Goldstein, flutist, perform Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, K.299. Roommates during college, both young women recently graduated from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as performance majors.

Tardiff graduated from James M. Bennett High School in Salisbury and attended Salisbury State for two years before transferring to Peabody. She began her performing career with the Salisbury Symphony Affiliated Youth Orchestra. She has attended the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony for the last five summers where she studied with Alice Chalifoux. She is presently working toward her Master of Music at Peabody, as a student of Jeanne Chalifoux. She is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Tardiff of Salisbury.

Goldstein, originally from Reston, VA, is a graduate of South Lakes High School. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Boston University as a student of Doriot Dwyer. At Peabody she studied with Mark Sparks and earned her Master of Music. She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Longy School of Music in Boston, and is a member of the Chiaro Vento Wind Quintet. She is currently studying with Robert Wiloughby.

Also featured will be Erin McKenzie on solo violin, playing Gabriel Faure's Berceuse. Op. 16. McKenzie, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. C. Richard McKenzie, is a senior at Wicomico High School and is presently studying with Carlton Herrett of Whitehaven. Concert mistress of the Salisbury Symphony Affiliated Youth Orchestra, McKenzie has been a member of that group since the seventh grade and was invited to play in the adult orchestra during her sophomore year in high school. She plans to attend SSU next year.

Elliot has also programmed the Overture from the opera Fidelio, Op. 72, by Ludwig van Beethoven; Quiet City by Aaron Copland, which features John O'Meara on English horn and James Bean on trumpet; and Felix Mendelsohn's Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 (The Italian). Elliot describes The Italian as "rollicking, festive themes of the sort that in the 19th century swirled around the public piazzas on feast days."

As usual, the SSO Annual Holiday Concert will conclude with seasonal favorites, including the now-famous sing-a-long. Please note that Santa's visit will be limited to the 2 p.m. concert (due to his overwhelmingly busy schedule.) However, he will again be leading both the young and the young-at-heart in a special "holiday march" around the performance hall.

Tickets, $15 for adults and $8 for seniors (60 and up) and for students (18 and under), are available at Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council ticket outlets (which are any of the Peninsula Bank and Bank of Delmarva branch offices), or by calling the Symphony Office at 410-548-5587.