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To arrange a visit for your school group, please call (585) 697-1942.
A special holiday treat! Take a seat in the Star Theater, watch and listen as beautiful laser patterns dance across the dome, accompanying a variety of joyful and inspiring holiday music. This year's holiday laser show is 100 percent music and luminous laser choreography, highlighting the power of music to point to the best in human nature. Length about 45 minutes. Especially appropriate for younger children.
NYS Learning Standards: ELA1; SS1(2,3); 2(1); A2,3,4------------------------------------------------------------------------ Music list for Holiday Laser 2007Trepak (Russian Dance) from "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky
Erich Kunzel and the Rochester Pops
A brisk curtain-raiser from the most popular of all ballets, in a performance recorded in the Eastman Theater in 1984.
Sun Valley Ski Run
Esquivel
"Lounge" and "retro" are words sometimes applied to this music today -- which is a way of saying that the Mexican composer-arranger Juan Garcia Esquivel was decades ahead of his time with his bold experiments in electronics and stereo. This song was recorded in 1959.
Greensleeves
Kenny G
The immensely popular saxophonist contributes a mellow interpretation of a traditional favorite from "Miracles: The Holiday Album."
"For He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee" from "Elijah" by Mendelssohn
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Richard Hickox, conductor
The teachings of the prophet Elijah are accepted by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio about the prophet is one of the most-performed works among amateur and community choral groups.
Badinerie from Suite no. 2 by Bach
Sonos Handbell Ensemble
Handbell choirs constitute a vital part of amateur music making in schools, churches, and community groups. This topnotch group, with flutist Timothy Day, demonstrates that you can arrange Bach's music for almost any instrumental ensemble and get beautiful results.
Jingle Bells
Count Basie
Recorded live at Birdland, New York City, in 1961.
I Love the Winter Weather/I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Tony Bennett
As we encounter holiday traffic on the highways and at the malls and airports, we may all aspire to be this relaxed!
'Twas In the Moon of Wintertime
Cambridge Singers, John Rutter, conductor
A French Canadian Christmas carol with Native American overtones. In this interpretation of the Christmas story, the infant Jesus is born in the woods and wrapped in a rabbit skin robe.
Seven Principles
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Kwanzaa is a seven-day holiday that pays tribute to the cultural roots of Americans of African ancestry, while carrying a message to all people of good will. It teaches the seven principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Sweet Honey in the Rock, an a cappella vocal group of African-American women, has made many recordings since their founding in 1973.
"Song of the Well" from "Israeli Melodies" suite by Julius Chajes
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, David Amos, conductor
While not specifically a Hanukkah piece, this work, by a distinguished composer, pianist, and longtime music director at Detroit's Jewish Community Center, expresses the inner glow of determination and courage exemplified in the Hanukkah story.
This Christmas
Yutaka
Yutaka Yokokura seems to have been one of very few pop artists to make successful recordings for the American market using the koto, a Japanese instrument somewhat like a harp or guitar with 13 long silk strings.
"Winter" from "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Gil Shaham, violin solo
According to notes by Vivaldi himself, this music portrays "frozen shivering, the icy snow, a dreadful storm, running and foot stamping because of the cold, wind, chattering of teeth."
Bless this House
Mahalia Jackson
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
This group brings together musicians from various backgrounds to create performances of operatic scale. In our show, lasers and sound unite in a powerful conclusion that searches for the magic of the holidays "in the forgiving world of night."Special thanks to Julia Figueras, Music Director, WXXI-FM, for assistance with musical selections.
About Vivaldi's "Winter"Our show uses the first movement of "Winter," one of four concertos for violin and string orchestra, "The Four Seasons," by the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). Each concerto is connected to a poem, possibly written by Vivaldi himself. Vivaldi's genius was to create music that not only illustrates the poems but also stands on its own. Here, in the original Italian and in English translation, are the words connected to the first movement of "Winter":
"Aggiacciato tremar trà neri algenti
Al Severo Spirar d' orrido Vento,
Correr battendo i piedi ogni momento;
E pel Soverchio gel batter i denti
Shivering, frozen mid the frosty snow in biting, stinging winds; running to and fro to stamp one's icy feet, teeth chattering in the bitter chill
An informative web page on Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," including all the Italian poems and English translations (including the one quoted above):
http://www.baroque-music-club.com/vivaldiseasons.htmlFor more informationThe following web sites (outside RMSC) supply detailed information on calendars and holidays in many world traditions:
http://www.calendarzone.com. "Comprehensive categorized calendar catalog currently containing countless correlating connections & calzone recipes!"
http://www.interfaithcalendar.org. "Primary sacred times for world religions"
For answers to some frequently asked questions about calendars and seasons, check the U.S. Naval Observatory web site. Click on "FAQ," then scroll down to the section on calendars: http://aa.usno.navy.mil
History buffs may be intrigued (and possibly surprised) by the detailed historical study of Christmas celebrations in the United States in the book The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum.
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