Christmas @ Furman to be performed Dec. 5

The Furman Symphony Orchestra, Furman Singers and Chorales featuring five student soloists will present Christmas @ Furman Friday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. in McAlister Auditorium on the Furman University campus.

The event is open to the public. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for students/youth.

An annual tradition for more than 50 years, Furman’s holiday concert features 200 students conducted by Thomas Joiner and Hugh Ferguson Floyd. The program, part of Furman’s Cultural Life Program as well as the Sound Quality Concert Series, includes Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” choral works by Franz Biebl and Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alfred Reed’s “Russian Christmas Music,” Brahms’ Chorale Prelude “There is a Rose,” Mannheim Steamroller’s “Silent Night,” and familiar carol arrangements by Arthur Harris.

Student soloists for Vivaldi’s “Gloria” are sopranos Leyly Bagherof (Greenville, S.C.), Carmen Beam (Greenville, S.C.), Hannah Camille Cox (Hickory, N.C.), Layla Dougani (Cary, N.C.), and mezzo-soprano Ashton Nicewonger (Pelion, S.C.).

For more information or advance ticket sales, call the Furman Music Office at (864) 294-2086. To purchase tickets online, follow this link.

About Thomas W. Joiner

Dr. Joiner has appeared as a conductor, violinist, chamber player, and teacher throughout the United States and 11 foreign countries. At Furman, he conducts the Furman Symphony Orchestra in orchestral, operatic, and oratorio performances. He also serves as the music director and conductor of the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra (N.C.). For more than three decades, Joiner served as a member of the artist-faculty of the Brevard Music Center where he was a concertmaster of the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra. Previous positions include Associate Principal Second Violin of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, first violinist with the Louisville Orchestra and Professor of Violin and Orchestral Activities at the University of Georgia School of Music. A native of Rock Hill, S.C., Joiner is a graduate of Furman University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Florida State University.

About Hugh Ferguson Floyd

Dr. Floyd is professor of music at Furman, coordinator of choral ensembles and director of the Furman Singers. He is the first recipient of the Bingham L. Vick, Jr. and Judith S. Vick Professorship of Music, established by the Furman Singers Alumni Association. Prior to his appointment at Furman, Floyd served as the director of choral studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College. He served as director of choral activities and voice instructor at the famed Interlochen Center for the Arts, a guest lecturer at the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University, and is currently Artistic Director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Choral Studies. Floyd is a graduate of Furman University, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Michigan.