Featured Image:  The Charter Arts Winter Choral Concert in December 2018. Photo Credit: Christmas City Studio

BETHLEHEM, PA– The acclaimed music department of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts (Charter Arts) will hold its popular Winter Concert Series later this month with stunning performances featuring more than 200 talented young vocalists and musicians.

The 2021 Winter Choral Concert, December 13 & 14 at 7 PM, will feature the Charter Arts Treble Choir, Touring Choir, and vocal major choirs.   In addition to traditional and modern choral repertoire, the program will include two beautiful combined choir pieces,  Sing Gently by Eric Whitacre and If You’re Out There by John Legend.

The 2021 Winter Instrumental Concert, December 17 at 7 PM, will feature the school’s Guitar Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and Orchestra. Some highlights include the Wind Ensemble performing Diamond Tide by Viet Cuong, the Orchestra’s performance of Scheherazade by Rinsky-Korsakov, and the Percussion Ensemble performing arrangements of Dave Brubek’s Blue Rondo a La Turk and Married Life from the film, “Up”. The Guitar Ensemble will feature some holiday selections as well as a performance of Waves Obsidian by Harry Stafylakis.

The Festivus Concert on December 22 at 7 PM wraps up the series and highlights the Charter Arts Jazz Program’s impressive ensembles.  Selections will include holiday fare both familiar and obscure, featuring works by Wes Montgomery, Sun Ra, Claude Thornhill, Milt Jackson, and many others.

All concerts will take place in the Charter Arts Theatre, located on the school’s campus at 321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem.  Masks are required.

Tickets for each concert are $5-$10 and can be purchased through the school’s website, www.CharterArts.org, or at the box office if not sold out.

ABOUT THE CHARTER ARTS MUSIC DEPARTMENT:
Instrumental Music and Vocal Music are two distinct individual departments at Charter Arts. However, some of the courses are required of both majors while others are department-specific. Instrumental students are provided large ensemble experience through Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Charter Arts Big Band and Percussion Ensemble. Small ensembles such as Advanced Jazz Combo, Pop/Jazz Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble, and String Ensemble also boast a full concert schedule. Through community partnerships, students also perform at various venues across the Lehigh Valley.

In the Charter Arts Vocal Music program, students learn to read music at an advanced level, as well as understand the historical setting of the pieces in their musical repertoire. The faculty helps them listen analytically, with skills that develop both their critical sense of music and thought. Working with each other, students learn teamwork and become creative and cooperative members of musical ensembles.

Beyond ensembles, the music curriculum is vast and challenging. Students have four years of music theory and four years in a technique class where the vocalists work with a vocal specialist and the instrumentalists work with a specialist in their instrument family. Along with a collection of music electives, these classes prepare students for careers as professional musicians, music majors in college or university, and/or lifelong lovers and learners of music.

The Charter Arts Music Department is led by Artistic Director of Instrumental Music, Matthew Wells and Artistic Director of Vocal Music, Erica Dickson.

 

ABOUT THE LEHIGH VALLEY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS (Charter Arts):

Charter Arts is an audition-based public charter school that provides a comprehensive curriculum for high school students, grades 9-12, who have a passion for the arts.   Students major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, instrumental music, literary arts, production arts, theatre, visual arts, or vocal music.

Charter Arts’ rigorous curriculum fosters both academic and artistic excellence for its students. The school’s impressive Future Ready PA Index ranking, Advanced Placement (AP) exam statistics, Keystone Exam statistics, SAT scores, prestigious artistic accolades, and graduation rate, are testaments to the outstanding education that Charter Arts provides.

Charter Arts is proud to celebrate its nineteenth year as one of the most respected high schools for the arts in the nation.  Charter Arts was named a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education.  The school has also earned the Title I Distinguished School designation for four years, placing it in the top 5 % of all Title I high schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Recently, Charter Arts was ranked #1 Best Public High School Teachers in PA and #1 Best Charter High School in PA on Niche’s 2022 Best Schools in America Rankings.

Auditions for the 2022-2023 school year will be held January 28, February 18 and February 19, 2022.  Auditions are by appointment only.  For more information, visit www.CharterArts.org.

Charter Arts is located at 321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem PA 18015.

Information & Image Provided By:
Ann Gillette
Manager of Public Relations and Media
Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts
321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
www.CharterArts.org

 

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