This holiday season will be a musical one for the Saint Louis University community when the Department of Fine and Performing Arts will present seven concerts spanning a full 10 days in December.

The music-filled week begins at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 in Saint Francis Xavier College Church with the University String Orchestra. The orchestra program will include pieces ranging from Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No.10 to the music of Coldplay. Soprano Jessica Goodenough-Heuser will be guest-featured, singing excerpts from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

“I want to encourage the university community to attend some of these concerts and find out the quality of the talent in our student body,” John Lamb, publicity and promotion director for the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, said.

Marc Thayer, the conductor for the String Orchestra, has invited three guest musicians from Morocco to perform Moroccan and Arabic music. The concert will feature guests Abdullah El Miry on the violin, Nasser Houari on the oud, a Moroccan string instrument, and Abdallah Akachour on percussion. Thayer, who serves as the Director of Education at American Voices, has taught and performed extensively throughout Iraq.

The Guitar and the String ensembles will team up for a dual ensemble concert at noon on Dec. 4 in the College Church. The ensembles’ repertoire includes music from the Renaissance to contemporary and jazz styles, and incorporates pieces by composers such as Handel, Boccherini, Handel, Politi and Brubeck.

“We have some really cool pieces that we’ve been working on, so it should sound pretty good, and we have a lot more pieces than we had last year,” Andy Patrick, a junior music major and member of the Guitar Ensemble, said.

The Guitar Ensemble plans to conjure up the Christmas spirit in a fun and original way, featuring three Christmas songs that were specially arranged by director William Hopkins.

“We’re doing a couple of cool things with the Christmas songs,” Ben Minden-Birkenmaier, who will perform solos on two modern pieces by William Wallace during the Guitar Ensemble, said. “For example, we’re playing ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ with a Caribbean beat; ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’ we did as a round; and we’re doing Christmas carols that have been changed a bit to make them more interesting.”

Piano music lovers should not miss the Piano Ensemble performance at 4 p.m. on Dec. 7 at in the College Church. The eight-member group will perform solo and duet arrangements of Christmas-carol favorites, as well as duets from composers Grieg, Brahms and Rachmaninoff.

The fourth performance in the music concert series will be the Concert Wind Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 8 in the University Theatre at Xavier Hall. The following day, Dec. 9, features the student recital at 3 p.m. in College Church.

Music concerts wrap-up the second week of December with the University Choir concert at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 11 in the College Church, and the Jazz Ensemble concert at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 12 in the University Theatre at Xavier Hall.

Several of the ensembles are shaking up audiences’ expectations with creative twists on the concert experience. Audiences can expect both timeless holiday standards, as well as original arrangements. In addition, the programs will embrace contemporary and classical music from several cultural traditions.

“It’s a lot of fun to hang out and play together, a lot of cool music and, in general, a good experience,” Patrick said.

All concerts are free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Program Assistant Julia Sewell at (314) 977-2410.