The always popular Purcell Mountain Orchestra is set for its annual Christmas concert with a Dec. 8 date at the Golden Civic Centre.
The group, comprising of 30 locals from as young as 14 to as old as 70-something, will first perform a series of non-Christmas classical compositions before it inevitably plays to the festive atmosphere with a rendition of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
Among the non-holiday favourites are a ballad from Mozart, Dvorak’s New World Symphony and a piece featuring oboist Erika Buckley-Strobel called Gabriel’s Oboe.
“It’s a solo with orchestra accompaniment,” said cellist Jeff Moss, one of the orchestra’s founding members. “She has lots of beautiful solo parts (in this piece).”
Another piece called In a Gentle Rain will feature several soloists as well, including Moss on the cello and Maaike Porter on the flute.
There will also be a few surprise tunes and many recognizable melodies according to Moss and the overall theme is “There will be Magic in the air.”
The orchestra rehearses once a week for eight weeks prior to both their winter and spring concerts and is always accepting of new members who are willing to dust off their old instruments and participate.
In fact, the orchestra’s musical director Sue Gould will often write parts for instruments that may not be written into the original composition of a piece.
“She’s a super composer and arranger…she does tons of arranging on all the things that we play it’s really quite cool. She’s super valuable,” Moss said.
Moss, who plays with the Symphony of the Kootenays in Cranbrook, often discusses the orchestra in Golden, which always leaves his fellow musicians impressed.
“For a town our size, to put together an orchestra like this…it makes our town pretty special,” Moss said.
The concert will get underway at 7 p.m. and admission will be by donation.