On December 11th, the Maitland, Presbyterian Church (341 N Orlando Ave, Maitland, FL 32751) presented A Russian Christmas. Russia is well known for producing talented composers like Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. This concert presented sounds of the holiday season with a Russian flair. June Flowers, who organizes music a presentations around Central Florida, asked me to come and sketch the performance. June introduced me to Elizabeth St. Hilaire who is a visual artist and also a violin player. I made sure to get Elizabeth’s pinch hair in the sketch.
The Artistic Director and Conductor was Eric W. Mendez. Most arrangements were purely instrumental, but Cantique de Noel featured soprano Laura Bertshinger. Her performance elicited a standing oration. The Emcees for the night were Sent in a columnist Scott Maxwell, and Margaret Patten. Scott mentioned an article he had just written about 101 of the things that make Central Florida unique. I had just read that article and pulled it out of the paper because it contained so many sketch opportunities. That article listen the Maitland Symphony Orchestra as one of the unique 101 gems.
The concert was free, but of course donations were encouraged. This concert was certainly a way to warm up to the Christmas season. I slipped away during A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson. I wanted to avoid the crush of the crowd when the concert ended.
