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Clan Currie Society to Honor President Ronald Reagan Annual Christmas Concert to Include Newly-Commissioned Musical Tribute The annual Pipes of Christmas concert will have even more local flavor this year as the Clan Currie Society will collaborate with the Summit Music Festival. The Festival has established a special choral chamber group to perform at the annual holiday favorite. The concerts, opening on Friday, December 17 and with two additional shows Saturday, December 18, are the first winter performances for the Festival. All three performances will be held at Central Presbyterian Church in Summit. "Summit has a very strong cultural arts scene," said Lois Hageman, president of the Summit Music Festival. "There are many things going on, but as long as I've known, there's been nothing musically of the scope of the Pipes of Christmas or the Summit Music Festival in terms of the standing room only audiences. There's been a real need for organizations that let nonprofessional performers perform with professionals. That's what makes us both stand out. We have local participation and also the best of professionals." "We are delighted to be teaming with another fine musical institution based here in our community," said Robert Currie, president of the Clan Currie Society, an international Scottish arts and culture organization based in Summit. "The concert continues to grow from strength to strength with new guest artists joining our company each year." Though the concert is now in its sixth year, for Jason Tramm, founder and artistic director of the Summit Music Festival, it will be his first Pipes of Christmas experience. "I've tried to attend in the past, but it's always been sold out," he said. "I've heard nothing but glowing comments about the Pipes of Christmas from both professional colleagues as well as community members." The Summit Music Festival was founded in 2002 as a community ensemble, created to give local singers opportunities to perform choral masterworks with professional orchestras and soloists during the summer. Overwhelming audience response led the festival to expand its offerings in recent years. The Pipes of Christmas appearance is the first collaborative effort between the groups. This year's concert will feature the debut of a musical tribute commissioned in honor of President Ronald W. Reagan, who died on June 5 at the age of 93. The tribute, arranged by trumpeter Doug Haislip, managing director of the Solid Brass Ensemble, will feature the entire company in a stirring musical salute in recognition of Reagan's Scottish and Irish roots.
"We felt strongly that this was something we wanted to do," Currie said about the Reagan tribute. Once that decision was made, he added, the choice of Haislip for the arrangement was an easy one. "The Clan Currie commissioned the Reagan tribute," said Hageman, who will be among the singers in Tramm's group. "I'm excited to be part of what I expect will be an incredibly moving original work." Tramm, who called Solid Brass "one of our nation's premiere brass ensembles," said he was looking forward to the blending of the choral pieces with the instrumental arrangements of the Reagan tribute. In describing the musical tribute, Haislip said, "What I was looking for was to go back to the Reagan heritage -- his Celtic heritage, and to show how that really incorporated into his whole philosophy of optimism and positive feeling about America and how he lifted us out of our doldrums back in his administration and lifted our spirits. I think a lot of that came from his heritage and his basic core beliefs." For the tribute, Clan Currie worked with the Reagan Library and reached out to friends and family members of the late president. "We're delighted that the Reagan Library in Simi Valley (California) has requested a recording of the performance to include in their collection," Currie said. The Pipes of Christmas program features the music of Christmas accompanied by a selection of readings taken from Celtic literature and scripture. Featured musical performers include Celtic fiddler Paul Woodiel, the Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band and the Solid Brass ensemble. Also returning will be the choral composer and organist Jeff Rickard from the University of Redlands in California and distinguished Scottish country dance music expert Susie Petrov from Massachusetts. The Blandford Pipe Band (renamed in memory of their founder and former "Pipes" collaborator, Kevin Ray Blandford) also hails from Redlands, California. Pipe Major Blandford originated many of the core musical arrangements for the concert with Rickard. The Clan Currie Society produced the concert for the first time in 1999. The concerts have sold out every year, including the past five years at Central Presbyterian Church. This year, a Friday evening performance was added in addition to the Saturday matinee and evening performances to meet the increasingly-growing demand for tickets. Tramm personally selected the members of the Chamber Choir for this performance and he said he is excited about what the Summit Music Festival will add to the concerts. The singers are a mix of the festival's best, including most of the soloists from the group's summer performances, augmented with undergraduate students from the group he conducts at Rutgers University. Describing his new partnership with concert producer Robert Currie, Tramm said, "You've got two collaborators who are both perfectionists who both put their all in everything they do," he said. "Both of our ensembles put our pride on excellence in achieving our best." Tramm, who conducts the Summit Music Festival, is quickly ascending to the forefront of young conductors in the tri-state area. He is part of the conducting faculty at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he is pursuing a doctoral degree. This past year, Tramm has prepared choirs for performances in some of the country's greatest concert halls, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Haislip said. "It's a really beautiful evening. The Clan Currie Society has assembled some great performers. Being musicians, we always look for magic moments. They're hard to define, but you know when they happen. It's a moment that you can't put into words. It's almost an out of body experience - far greater than the sum of the parts. These magic moments stay with you for a lifetime, and those are priceless. Magic moments happen on these evenings. That's one of the reasons we look forward to these concerts. It's the highlight of the year for Solid Brass." Though she is not Scottish, Hageman has been a Pipes regular since the beginning -- attending each performance and inviting family members throughout the years. "It just touches something in the soul. It's a concert, but it's an experience" she said, trying to explain what makes the Pipes of Christmas special. "Everybody who comes, from whatever background, it's in our culture -- our American culture which has been strongly shaped by the Scottish people and the culture of our churches as well. It's just a magical evening. It's Christmas." "They're in for a fantastic experience," Hageman said. "Anybody who hasn't been to the Pipes, they're going to be wowed. Just the pipes concert in general and adding our choral group to it, it's going to take it to a different level. People who are just accustomed to the Summit Music Festival who haven't been to the Pipes, they're going to be amazed. It's a great collaboration." Historically, the Curries were the hereditary bards (poets) to the powerful Lords of the Isles in Western Scotland, where priest, poet and politician were a clan's power triumvirate. So, it seems fitting that the bardic Curries recognize the late president in a musical church performance. "Throughout history, most of the great music was performed in churches," Hageman said. "It's just in the past century that it's moved into halls and stadiums and recording studios." The combination of high art and contemporary events did not surprise Tramm. "I think they always have lived together in the past," he said. "There has to be a reason behind every major composition. The arts are always related to current events. We can't lose sight of that." In the past, the Society has commissioned bagpipe pieces, including "Lament for the Lost," which Blandford composed and performed only for the concert in 2001, dedicated to the memory of all who perished in the attacks on September 11. The 2002 concert was designated an official Golden Jubilee event by Buckingham Palace to commemorate the 50th anniversary of HRH Queen Elizabeth II's ascension to the British throne. That same year, Blandford premiered a pipe solo commissioned by Clan Currie in memory of the late Queen Mother, who had died earlier that year. Tramm said he viewed the tribute to President Reagan as a unifying element, rather than a divisive partisan issue. "We're celebrating a great man's life. I think both Republican and Democrat can appreciate that." Hageman agreed. "Many of the great requiems and other choral masterworks have roots in specific events that were important at the time. Although the specific event may be lost to us now, the music has lived on." "He was the president for all of us," Hageman added, "and I think that at the time of his passing and funeral that people from all walks of life in this country came together and remembered what a great leader he was. Whether you agreed with everything he did at the time didn't matter. He was a great communicator." In a relatively short time, the concert has become a family tradition for many in the area. Currie said he's had several orders for groups of 20 or more, including one family that purchased 26 tickets for one show. The concert makes no apologies for being a Christmas concert, rather than a "holiday" concert. "So many concerts now try so hard to be all things to all people and sort of downplay the Christmas story and make it about the winter solstice," Hageman said. "But that's not what I'm seeking, that's not what many people are seeking when they go to a Christmas concert. They really want to hear the Christmas story. They want to hear the music that comes from the Christmas tradition." Tramm said he was looking forward to a special experience. "I don't think I've been involved in a program with such variety. If you're a choral fan you're going to love it. If you're a Scottish music fan you're going to love it. There's just so much offered. You have a Celtic harp. There are just so many things that are different, happening at once at a very high level and then it's unified." Said Haislip, "It's a very unique program. Like nothing I've ever been a part of. It's an uplifting evening and one that will draw audiences back to all fantasy of what Christmas is about. There'll be moments of tears and moments of sadness but also moments of reflection and joy and just the positive, uplifting spirit that Christmas holds for so many of us." Hageman added, "When the pipes start playing your heart fills up, your eyes well up and you walk out transformed." Seating is limited and tickets will only be sold in advance of the concert. No tickets will be sold at the door. A ticket order form can be downloaded via the following link: http://www.clancurrie.org/pdfs/2004pipes_order.pdf. Tickets may also be purchased at John Hyatt Clothiers at 334 Springfield Avenue in Summit, NJ. Clan Currie has also announced the date for their fourth annual Burns Supper. The dinner dance, commemorating the life and contributions of Scotland’s immortal bard, will be held on Saturday, January 22, 2005 at the Grand Summit Hotel. For further information call (908) 273-3509 or e-mail the Society at clancurrie@mail.com.
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