Weekend concerts express the holiday spirit in music

Masterworks Chorale will begin its 40th season with holiday concerts titled "A Christmas of Favorites" at 8 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday in Epworth United Methodist Church, 3077 Valleyview Dr.

Artistic director Donna Tozer-Wipfli planned the program to mingle beloved familiar works with innovative new music. "There are certain Christmas carols and Christmas texts that instantly wake up a treasured memory for me from a long-ago time."

One of J.S. Bach's favorite oratorios, Magnificat, will be performed, along with a newly commissioned piece by American composer Stanford E. Scriven. Tickets are $12-$25.

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Hallelujah! The Toledo Choral Society, Toledo Symphony, and the Bowling Green State University Choral Society will meet on the Peristyle stage at 8 p.m. Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday to perform Handel's beloved oratorio, Messiah.

BGSU professor Mark Munson will lead the Saturday concert and Sam Szor will be on the podium for the Sunday performance.

Soloists for both concerts will be soprano Jessica Marsten, mezzo Katie Calcamuggio, and tenor Shawn Mathey.

Tickets are $25 at the door or in advance at 419-246-8000.

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Songs of Holiday Cheer is the title of this year's Perrysburg Symphony Chorale concert set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday in St. Rose Church, East Front Street, Perrysburg. Wayne Anthony will conduct the choir of some 40 area singers in holiday favorites and a few newer works. A sing-along also is on the program geared for all ages, a family event. Tickets are $5-$10 at the door.

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Fred Dais conducts during a rehearsal of the Owens Concert Band shortly after it was formed in January, 2010. Made up of students and community members, the band will perform Sunday in the Mainstage Theatre on campus.

On Sunday, proclamations of holiday spirit will ring from one end of town to the other in a variety of free public concerts.

The Owens Concert Band is scheduled to perform at 2:30 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre of the Center for Fine and Performing Arts on the main campus.

The Rosary Cathedral Choir with Paul Monachino will present Advent Lessons and Carols at 3 p.m. in Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, 2535 Collingwood Blvd.

The O Antiphons, another version of lessons and carols created and conducted by Wayne Anthony and the Trinity Episcopal Church Canterbury Choir, will begin at 7 p.m. in the historic downtown church.

And the Lourdes University Christmas concert, Joy to the World, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Franciscan Center of the Sylvania campus.

Karen T. Biscay will conduct university choirs, the Maumee Community Band, and the Children's Choir of Northwest Ohio. Pianist Olga Topuzova-Meade will accompany.

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Monday Musicale, a club of, by, and for local musicians, will present a free, public performance at 1 p.m. Monday at Epworth United Methodist Church, 3077 Valleyview Dr. Performers will be pianists Barbara Harris, Bob Ballinger, Gladys Rudolph, and Barbara Foote; singers Elizabeth Atkins, Ashley Klein, and Anthony Ferrer, and oboist Bonnie Rowe.

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The Napoleon Community Band will present its Holiday Pops Concert at 7 p.m. Monday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 810 Scott St., Napoleon. James P. George will conduct.

"We have been playing in the Henry County area for 26 years," says organizer Tom Jenny, "and try to feature a top ensemble from northwest Ohio at our Holiday Pops concert each year."

This year's special guest will be the Tower Brass Quintet, another northwest Ohio musical institution, which will perform on the second half of the program. Members of the Tower Brass Quintet are Brian Bushong and Larry Herman, trumpets; Bernice Schwartz, horn; Dan Saygers, trombone, and David Saygers, tuba.

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The Tower Brass Quintet will make its 12th annual appearance at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 200 N. Summit St., Bowling Green. There is no admission fee, but there will be a free-will offering at intermission.

For more information, call Trinity Church at 419-353-9031.

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Neighborhood and regional concerts by the Toledo Symphony will continue with a 7 p.m. performance Wednesday at Clay High School, 5665 Seaman Rd., Oregon. Resident conductor Jeffrey Pollock will conduct the orchestra in seasonal works by Harris, Rimsky-Korsakov, Anderson, and Mizesko. Bassoonists Gareth Thomas and Joan Weiler will solo in a witty work by Stephenson, "Bassoon it will be Christmas."

The program planned for 7 p.m. Dec. 8 in St. Patrick's Church, 610 S. Portland St., Bryan, will feature the Bruch Double Concerto for Viola and Clarinet with Rachel Ward Lehtonen, viola, and Timo Lehtonen, clarinet; an arrangement of a spiritual sung by Errin Brooks, and a mix of holiday music. Pollock will conduct.

The bassoonists and Pollock will be on hand for the Toledo Symphony's appearance at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 in the YMCA West, 2100 Tremainsville Rd. Christmas and Chanukah will be celebrated musically in this neighborhood event.

Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of the event.