Our 2011-2012 season is proving to be an exciting season.

We are very excited to announce that this season we started performing in the newly constructed Allen High School Performing Arts Center. This venue will allow us to present to about 1,500 guests.

We present for your pleasure:

• Sunday, December 11, 2011 – Caroling in the Park

Held again this year at the Stacy Ridge Park in Allen in cooperation with local Home Owner Associations. Festivities will start in the early evening and music and caroling will begin at 9:00pm

• Holiday Fantastique • Friday, December 16, 2011 8:00 pm
  Special guest artist Elizabeth Racheva joins the orchestra and chorus in a performance of Rutter’s Magnificat. Equally at home on the opera and concert stages, dynamic soprano Elizabeth Racheva has been hailed as “a great storyteller” (The Dallas Morning News) offering “bright, well-focused tone, exemplary diction and persuasive acting” (The Baltimore Sun).
  The Allen Philharmonic again welcomes the Allen District Honor Choir, an auditioned choir of 5th and 6th grade students, representing every elementary school in the Allen ISD to perform with the orchestra. The evening would not be complete without a surprise guest conductor and a special Christmas story narrated by perennial favorite, Carl Johnson.

• Amahl & The Night Visitors • Thursday,January 5 & Friday, January 6, 2012 7:30 pm

Presented by the Allen Symphony Chorus and members of the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra.

These performances are  at First United Methodist Church – Allen Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed on December 24, 1951 where it was broadcast live on television as the debut production of Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America.
Amahl, a shepherd, tries to tell his mother about what he has seen outside; an enormous star with a long tale. His mother, used to his habitual lying, grows angry; she is even angrier when Amahl tells her that a knock at the door is three kings come to visit
them.

We now have the entire cast set.

• Amahl – Johnathon Kroll, a 5^th grader in the Dallas Children’s Chorus
• The mother – Kim Mathews
• King Kasper – Chris Brunt
• King Melchior – Chris Mathews
• King Balthazar – Bob BrooksThe page – John Sutherland

This is an opera in one act. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, where it was broadcast live on television as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera specifically composed for television in America. This will be performed by the Allen Symphony Chorus and members of the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra.  Program starts at 7:30pm.Program starts at 7:30pm at First United Methodist Church of Allen.

• Saturday, February 11,2012  HeartStrings  7:00pm. Location TBA Allen Symphony Chorus and Guests perfom1ing Classical guitar, harp, voice.
• Prelude to Spring • Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:00 pm
  

  Eugene Pridonoff

  Our special guest will be pianist Eugene Pridonoff in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s famous Piano Concerto #1. Eugene Pridonoff
  has maintained an international performing career for over four decades since winning prizes in the Leventritt, Montreal, Brazil, and
  Tschaikowsky competitions. He is the Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Additional concert programming will include Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture, Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Ravel’s Bolero.

A new twist in performance times will take place on Sunday, February 26, 2012 when the Allen Philharmonic will perform a matinee concert that will begin at 2:00pm. Our special guest will be pianist Eugene Pridonoff in a performance of Pyotr IlyichTchaikovsky’s famous Piano Concerto #1.  Eugene Pridonoff has maintained an international performing career for over four decades since winning prizes in the Leventritt, Montreal, Brazil, and Tschaikowsky competitions.  He is the Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.  Additional concert programming will include Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Maurice Ravel’s Bolero.

• The Magic Orchestra with Dan Kamin • Friday, March 9, 2012 9:15 am & 11:00 amThird Grade Youth ConcertIn partnership with the Friends of the Allen Public Library, One Book project, the Allen Philharmonic welcomes internationally acclaimed performer Dan Kamin.A concert morphs into a horror movie! Nerdy Mr. Kirby, from the National Association of Children’s Entertainment (N.I.C.E.), doesn’t believe in the magical power of music. But when the conductor waves his magic baton, strange things begin to happen. Kirby’s clothes fall apart! He is transformed into a marionette to accompany the famous Alfred Hitchcock the memusic! Kids and adults alike will be delighted by Dan’s antics as he is “haunted” by the timeless music of Grieg, LeroyAnderson, Straussand others.
  Glorious • Saturday, April 28, 2012 8:00 pm

In this season finale, the Allen Symphony Chorus will perform movements from some of the most inspiring choral music written for the classical stage. Orchestral selections include Albert Ginastera’s Estancia Ballet Suite; Wagner’s Rienzi Overture; and Schubert’s Symphony #8 in B minor commonly known as the Unfinished Symphony

• Memorial Day Patriotic Pops • Monday, May 28, 2012 7:00 pm at he Amphitheater of Joe Farmer Recreation Center
  
  Memorial Day 2011

This concert, designed to reflect the true meaning of Memorial Day, is free to the public, encourages the attendance of families, and honors and remembers those who fight for our freedom. Programming favorites include the Armed Forces Salute, marches by John Phillips Sousa, and other patriotic selections. The evening will conclude with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, complete with fireworks.

Tickets are reasonably priced and can be purchased online at www.allenphilharmonic.org/tickets or by phone at 972.359.0656.

Do you have a student in grades 5 through 9 participating in a performing arts program?  Be sure to inquire about our Be Our Guest program.  Underwritten by a grant from Target this musical enrichment program is a great outing for parent and child.

We will look forward to seeing you at the concerts!

 Come and join us and bring your family and friends for great entertainment.

Earlier this season

• Autumn Overture • Saturday, October 22, 2011 8:00 pm
  Concert programming will include Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, Vaughan Williams’ O Clap Your Hands, and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Special Guest…the Allen High School Chorale. The Chorale is the first group from Allen ISD to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) convention; the highest honor a performing group can achieve in Texas.

This was the first concert of the Subscription Season.

On October 22, 2011 we welcomed our special guests, the Allen High School Chorale. This choir contains 70 auditioned voices, primarily upperclassmen, whose audition includes sight-reading, a singing exam, written tests, and several other year-long factors that are evaluated before earning a spot in the Chorale.  The Chorale has been invited to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) convention to be held in San Antonio in February 2012.

There were 115 schools that submitted a CD for consideration to perform at TMEA’s convention and the AHS Chorale was one of only three mixed groups chosen.

This is the first time any music group from Allen ISD has been invited to perform at TMEA and it is the highest honor that a performing group can achieve in Texas. Richard Giangiulio, conductor and music director commented,” what a great honor that our choir was chosen to represent the outstanding artistic achievements found in the Allen school district. We can all be proud of such a historic accomplishment”.

Concert programming included Antonin Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ O Clap Your Hands, and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Subscription prices for the series is $90.00 for adults, $70 for seniors and $30 for students.  Single ticket prices are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for students. Program starts at 8:00pm.