(Posted November 30, 2015)

Juniata College Percussion Ensemble will perform at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbriter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.
Juniata College Percussion Ensemble will perform at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbriter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Holiday music, with a smidgen of Russian classical influences thrown into the mix, is the theme of the fall semester concert by the Juniata College Percussion Ensemble at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbriter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.

Tickets are $5 for adults and free for those under age 18, or Juniata students with valid ID. The percussion ensemble is directed by James Latten, professor of music at Juniata.

The concert will open with a World Percussion Lab demonstration, which showcases various instruments used for percussion by different cultures around the world. African and Indian drums will be played, as well as various other instruments.

The Percussion Ensemble will follow by performing "Troika," from "Lieutenant Kijé." Written by Sergei Prokofiev, for a 1933 Soviet movie, the "Troika" section is often used to score movie scenes set in winter or during Christmas.

Next, the ensemble will play "Fantasy on 'Jingle Bells,'" which is arranged by Dane Newlove. "Jingle Bells" was originally written in 1857.

"Funk Fraternity," by 20th century composer Murray Houllif, is based on fully using the drumkit's potential to pay homage to such funk bands as James Brown's Famous Flames.

Another percussion group, the Keyboard Percussion Choir, which plays such instruments as marimbas, xylophones and vibraphones, will perform "Silent Night," the ageless Christmas hymn, followed by "Angels We Have Heard on High."

The percussion choir will be followed by Juniata's Steely Pan and the PVCs, a novelty group that plays music on instruments built from PVC plumbing pipe. The group will play "Christmas Set," arranged by Amanda Sick

The PVC-based ensemble will take the concert home for "Trepak," which is taken from "The Nutcracker Suite," by Peter Tchaikovsky. The selection is one of the most popular "ethnic dances" used in the popular holiday ballet suite.

The final selection of the concert will be, fittingly, "Auld Lang Syne," the classic holiday song used to greet the new year.

Members of the Percussion Ensemble are:

Matt Alexander, a freshman from Greencastle, Pa.; Christina Estright, a junior from Norristown, Pa.; Janessa Fryberger, a freshman from Narvon, Pa.; Jonathan Geyer, a senior from Newport, Pa.; Joshua Gerow, a freshman from Cambridge Springs, Pa.; Elisabeth Hamme, a sophomore from Lebanon, Pa.; Taylor Hohenstein, a junior from Charlottesville, Va.; Joshua Katz, a sophomore from Somerset, Pa.; Rebecca Katz, a junior from Somerset, Pa.; Jessica Murray, a junior from Carlisle, Pa.; Emily Reinl, a senior from Mechanicsburg. Pa.; Dane Sapienza sophomore from McDonald, Pa.; Annemarie Sciarra, a freshman from Swarthmore, Pa.; Bethany Slaughter, a junior from Mt. Airy, Md.; Stephen Spruell, a senior from Friedens, Pa.; Nicodemus Usry, a freshman from Portage, Pa.; Rebecca Walsh, a freshman from Exton, Pa.; and Emily Zimmerman, a junior from Ephrata, Pa.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.