Every December for the past 20 years, Tucsonans have looked forward to the Holiday Card to Tucson concert almost as a rite of Christmas passage.
It was the sure sign, post-Thanksgiving and Black Friday, that the holidays were indeed upon us.
This year, the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music event goes virtual for its 21st annual concert courtesy of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of gathering at some great hall with exquisite acoustics — the majestic St. Augustine Cathedral downtown has served as the venue for a number of years — we will gather around our home screens Sunday, Dec. 6, when the Holiday Card to Tucson is broadcast on YouTube.
It is the first time in the event’s 21 years that it won’t be performed before a live audience, but given the circumstances of 2020, Associate Choral Director Elizabeth Schauer should be commended for pulling off the event in any form.
And this year’s event will actually be bigger than years past, she said. In addition to the usual suspects — Holiday Card to Tucson regulars the UA Symphonic Choir, The Arizona Choir, Tucson Girls Chorus, University Community Chorus and Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus — this year’s event will also feature performances by the Tucson Arizona Young Men’s Ensemble and three other UA groups: Coro, Collegium Musicum and Treble Glee. Schauer said the concert will feature a first: instrumental works performed by the UA Faculty Brass Quintet and harp professor Michelle Gott.
“This is such a creative group of people,” Schauer said, explaining that when she proposed the concert to Tucson ensembles months ago, none of them turned her down. “They all immediately said they were interested in participating.”
Of course, the pandemic threw a wrench in how the groups would pull off their performance. Schauer gave them options including submitting videos of past performances, performing on Zoom or submitting a newly pre-recorded performance all in keeping with pandemic social distancing protocols.
Schauer conducted the Symphonic Choir and Arizona Choir in their parts from St. Augustine Chapel at 192 S. Stone Ave. in October while other groups filmed their contribution to the concert in September.
“A lot of us, we didn’t know how long we would be able to meet together,” Schauer said. “The university, we thought maybe would start in person and quickly have to go back online. So some things were recorded in September and over the course of the semester.”
Arizona Arts Live, formerly UA Presents, will edit the performances into 75 minutes, opening as the concert does every year with “Adeste,” a setting of “O Come All Ye Faithful” performed by four choirs and a bell choir. Schauer said they will use an archived recording of the work from an earlier Holiday Card to Tucson concert.
Admission to the concert, which begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, is free but donations are accepted. In years past, the Holiday Card concert has been one of the Fred Fox School of Music choral program’s biggest fundraisers, supporting students’ educational, musical and professional endeavors throughout the year.
Retired UA Choral Director Bruce Chamberlain started the Holiday Card to Tucson and Schauer has led it the past 17 years.
