Angels Among Us

Monday I promised you the inside scoop on Clayton. We had two rehearsals Tuesday, and I know more, but I'm sure there are surprises even the orchestra doesn't know about yet.

The theme of this year's Clayton Holiday Concert is "Angels Among Us." We're playing all sorts of pieces about angels: an orchestral arrangement of Trisha Yearwood's "Another Angel Gets His Wings," "The Angels," "Angels in the Snow," and, of course, "Angels Among Us." There will be a slide show during "Angels Among Us" featuring the artwork of nearly 80 Knox County school children. A few years ago the KSO performed a Young People's Concert that linked visual art with music. That concert also featured a slide show of children's artwork. It sticks in my mind because some of the artwork did an impressive job showing what was happening in the music. At our rehearsals on Tuesday the slide show was not yet up and running. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures at tonight's dress rehearsal. What could be sweeter than the depiction of an angel through the eyes of a child?

An unusual piece we're playing this year is Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk." When I got the piece about a month ago to mark bowings, I thought it was for our January Pops concert. It is certainly not traditional holiday fare. Turns out the KSO is partnering with the Young-Williams Animal Center for this year's Clayton concert. This year has been particularly rough on all shelters with record numbers of people surrendering their pets due to financial hardship. Young-Williams is an angel in our community. The KSO will be collecting donations of items on the shelter's wish list at the concerts. Collection bins will be located in the lobby.

We have four performances of this year's Clayton Holiday Concert. Information on times and tickets can be found here.