The Vernal Middle School was a hub of families eager to feel the Christmas spirit through beautiful music on Saturday and the Uintah Basin Orchestra and Chorus certainly delivered. The organization’s annual Christmas concerts are held the first Saturday in December and are comprised each year of traditional and non-traditional Christmas music performed by a full orchestra, large choir, and children’s choir. Dancers from Studio R also add to the experience during select songs where they perform in the aisles. This year’s concerts were conducted by Dr. Cory Evans, the Director of Choral Activities and Choral Music Education at Utah State University. The crowd especially loved the number “Mary, Go Tell It”, a Christmas song in the style of an upbeat old Spiritual, during which Dr. Evans stepped off the conductor podium and lead the choir and soloist Ellen Anderson while he rocked out on a drum set. The children’s choir presented a new element this year with several of its members playing instruments during their performance of “Calypso Lullaby”. The orchestra’s rendition of “Sleighride” combined with the enthusiastic dancers dressed in Santa red was also met with extra enthusiasm by the crowd. To learn more about UBOC and upcoming concerts, visit www.uboc.org.
