Join SJWS for an uplifting concert of seasonal works, from the sacred to the secular to the Festival of Lights. The family friendly concert features a variety of holiday-themed music by composers Leroy Anderson, Morton Gould, Julie Giroux and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Michael Daugherty’s ethereal Winter Dreams and a special tenth-anniversary performance of John Mackey’s The Frozen Cathedral.
Included also, especially for our younger audience members, is a special reading of The Night Before Christmas! and, of course, Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride!
This year we are beginning a new tradition, a collaboration: using our holiday concert to promote a local organization that is dedicated to serving our community’s neediest members. For this concert, we are highlighting the good works of Family Supportive Housing (FSH) of San Jose. For over 30 years, this local nonprofits mission has been to help families that are experiencing homelessness to remain intact, while addressing each family’s needs for food, shelter, employment and education. We strongly encourage our musicians and audience members — and their families and friends — to donate generously to this worthy organization. Representatives from FSH will be available at the concert to answer questions and to accept your donations. To donate online, use the following QR code or go to familysupportivehousing.org/donate.
Please join us to enjoy a great concert while helping those in need!
Dr. David Vickerman, 2015 winner of The American Prize in Conducting and 2023 winner of the Outstanding Music Educator Award for CMEA Bay Section, is an Associate Professor of Music and the Director of Bands at San José State University. Prior to his appointment at San José State University, he was the Director of Bands at The College of New Jersey (2012-2017) and the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus (2010-2012). In addition to his duties at SJSU, he has previously served as the Associate Conductor of Great Noise Ensemble, in Washington D.C. and he is a highly sought-after guest conductor, having conducted numerous honor bands across the country.
A fervent advocate for contemporary music, Dr. Vickerman has commissioned works by eminent composers and conducted numerous premieres. He has also arranged several pieces for winds including Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble by Philip Glass (published through WiseMusic Classical), Ára Batur by the Icelandic rock band, Sigur Rós, Observer in the Magellanic Cloud by Mason Bates and Craigslistlieder by Gabriel Kahane. Dr. Vickerman also regularly presents at regional, national and international conferences on topics ranging from teaching social justice issues in band to embracing vulnerability in rehearsal and performance.
Dr. Vickerman graduated from the Peabody Institute with a DMA in Wind Conducting in 2014 and a Master’s Degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Oregon in 2010. Prior to his work at the University of Oregon, he taught high school in California for 6 years after receiving a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education and teaching credential from California State University Stanislaus in 2002.