University of North Texas

The College of Music’s Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band and Jazz Singers will unite for the first time for a series of concerts Dec. 5–6 for schoolchildren and the community.

Sounds of the Holidays: An Evening with North Texas Jazz features the One O’Clock, led by director Jay Saunders, and the Jazz Singers, directed by Jennifer Barnes, performing holiday favorites.

A concert geared toward the entire Denton community, Sounds of the Holidays will be performed at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Murchison Performing Arts Center, Winspear Hall. Two private concerts for 1,200 sixth grade students from Denton ISD will also be performed Dec. 5. These concerts are made possible by the Professional Development Institute at UNT.

The program will include holiday favorites such as “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “The Christmas Song,” “Christmas Time is Here” and other classics.

“One of the fun things in featuring both the One O’Clock and the Jazz Singers is that people will get to hear both instrumental and vocal jazz,” Barnes said. “The Jazz Singers will be singing in three different kinds of settings – a cappella, with rhythm section and with big band. I think it will be fun and give people a chance to hear some really interesting jazz treatments of these familiar tunes to get them in the holiday spirit.”

Both groups are also looking forward to performing for Denton’s schoolchildren, Barnes said.

“We’re very excited to have the chance to perform for the sixth-graders as a bonus for the Dec. 6 concert,” said Barnes. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for many young people to see and hear a concert that has many pieces of music with which they’re familiar but set in the different style of jazz.”

“The performances are a gift to the community,” said Ken Robertson, president of the Professional Development Institute.

The institute is paying for the transportation of the schoolchildren to the concert, and dozens of UNT students, faculty and staff have dedicated their time to practicing and preparing for these concerts.

“There are going to be children who come to these concerts who have never been to a performance like this, and for some of them, it will be their first time on a university campus,” Robertson said. “We hope to reach out to them. Maybe it will help them get involved in music. We hope they will remember this as a positive experience.”

With many sixth graders in the Denton community participating in the private concerts, organizers said they felt it appropriate to invite the families of the students and the local community to share in the festivities by making the final performance affordable for the whole family at $3 a person.

• Purchase tickets online or by calling the Murchison Box Office at 940-369-7802.

—Monique Bird, News Promotions