Temple Symphiny Orchestra Christmas Concert set Dec. 1

Metropolitan Opera baritone Robert McFarland and Terri Johnson, soprano, join the Temple Symphony Orchestra to present its 19th annual Holiday Concert.  The concert, sponsored by Scott & White Healthcare and the City of Temple, is at 7:30 pm on Saturday, December 1, at the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center  at Temple College.

They will present traditional Christmas music as well as  popular opera gems.

Opening with the traditional “Holly and the Ivy” and the familiar “Fantasia on Greensleeves”,  the concert moves to arias from the Barber of Seville, La Boehme and Tosca. Robert McFarland also  sings “They call the Wind Mariah” from the Broadway  show” Paint Your Wagon”.

Following intermission, McFarland and Johnson team up for “Gesu Bambino”.  Separately they offer “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Have Yourself a Very Merry Little Christmas”.

Clayton Capps, tuba , will offer “Wassail, Wassail All Over the Tuba”

Terri  Johnson sings  Cole Porter’s “The Christmas Song” and the orchestra will offer the very popular “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson, complete with the buggy whip.

The concert closes with the traditional sing-a-long in which the audience joins McFarland, Johnson and the orchestra in the carols of the season.

Terri Johnson has performed with opera companies across the country and has been an Artist in Residence with the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Memphis  and the Smithsonian Institution.

Robert McFarland’s vocal artistry has been heard in over 114 operatic roles and in nearly every major opera house in the world, including the new York Metropolitan Opera.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for students with id.  Active military families with id are admitted free. Children  under 6 and not admitted to the auditorium.

Tickets are available at H-E-B, The Band Room in Copperas Cove., Harker- Heights and Belton, Discover Natural Foods in Temple, the Temple College Fine Arts Department, from templesymphony.org, templesymphony@gmail.com and by calling 254-778-NOTE(6683).