On December 3, FGCU’s Bower School of Music & the Arts performed its annual Christmas extravaganza, “Joyful & Triumphant,” at Moorings Presbyterian Church in Naples. FGCU Artistic Director and Director of Choirs Trent R. Brown provides this overview of the concert.
“‘Joyful and Triumphant’ has about 200 student musicians,” said Brown. “They come from four different choirs and the symphony orchestra.”
For more than a decade, they’ve performed their Christmas concert at Moorings Presbyterian Church, and WGCU airs and televises the concert for all of Southwest Florida.
“The program uses a lot of holiday music, some that’s pretty traditional, some that’s outside of the mainstream holiday music, and some that’s very, very loosely attached to the holidays ... to just really get people in the spirit of the season and to see the great work that these student musicians do,” Brown added.
Choosing the music is a creative endeavor of its own.
“There are some things that are consistent from year to year,” said Brown. “We do a processional that’s relatively traditional. And we have a couple of other things that sort of serve as transition moments in the concert. But then what usually happens is one or two [choirs] comes with a creative idea, a piece that they have found or something that they want to showcase or something that showcases the students and then from there, we build out the other pieces that can sort of support those big anchor pieces.”
The program shines an individual spotlight on each of the university’s four choirs as well as its symphony orchestra. But there are several numbers that include the orchestra and all four choirs on stage at the same time.
“Something is always happening where there’s a piece of music or a transition, and the number of performers changes from piece to piece,” Brown explained. “So sometimes you get something that’s a little bit more chamber like, a little bit more intimate, something that’s really big and grandiose the next moment, so the emotional character of the concert is always really varied.”
Anyone who missed the performances can view them on WGCU HD TV or hear a replay of the concert on WGCU FM Radio. See below for days, times and other details.
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Joyful & Triumphant features Bel Canto, Cantabile, the Chamber Choir, University Choir, and Symphony Orchestra.
While each choir rehearses separately for several weeks, the four choirs and orchestra have but a single combined rehearsal prior to their two performances at Moorings Presbyterian Church.
Of course, it’s helpful that the concert takes place at Moorings Presbyterian Church each year. “That’s really helpful, and we also have some institutional memory with our upper classmen that have done some things, and even though we have variations, they can think to themselves, ‘Oh, OK, I know what we’re looking for here’ and sort of help our newer members out as well,” said Brown.
“Joyful & Triumphant” almost never happened. When the idea of a community-based holiday concert was initially pitched to Brown, he rejected the proposal out of hand.
“I said, if we do it once, I guarantee we’ll be doing this every year for the rest of the institution’s life,” Brown recalled.
Brown ultimately yielded. But, as he’d predicted, he was asked to reprise the event the ensuing year.
This time, Brown was promised, WGCU would record the concert so that there’d be no need to perform the concert live ever again.
“But as you can see,” Brown said good-naturedly, “it’s been something that’s a huge part of the community. It’s a part of the student experience. It’s part of our program, and we’re really fortunate each year to get to connect with the community in that way.”
From the students’ perspective, “Joyful & Triumphant” is particularly beneficial. Beyond performing with 200 of their fellow students, FGCU’s musicians enjoy the experience of performing in front of a large audience of more than 800 people — twice.
“I would say that student feedback is always really positive,” said Brown. “It’s a lot of work getting to that point, and it comes the week after the Thanksgiving break, so there’s lots of other student responsibilities. But to be able to share that music with the community and make those memories with their classmates, there’s a whole bunch of other things that happen during the rehearsal process and the behind-the-scenes performances that just build their relationships with their peers and make it something that they look back on with fondness.”
Participation in the holiday concert represents a rite of passage for those students who graduate the following year, as well.
Positive notoriety and face recognition are byproducts of being seen in WGCU’s broadcast of the concert during Christmas week.
“I have some weird things that happen where people will look at me like in a Starbucks line or something and say, ‘You look really, really familiar’ and I’ll say, ‘Yeah, I think it was the Christmas show,’ and they’ll say ‘That’s it! That’s where I know you from!’ So it’s amazing how many people in Southwest Florida have that on in the holiday week just as maybe something that they’re playing in their house when they have their family there and they’re having dinner, and we become part of the community in that way, too.”
Since its inception, Southwest Florida has contended with a global pandemic and hurricanes Ian, Debby, Helene and Milton. That notwithstanding, FGCU’s student musicians have persevered to put on a world-class holiday concert.
“I think it shows a lot of resilience on the part of the student musicians, who lose some instructional time and still put together something that great,” said Brown. “The university is also committed in this performance to share with the community, and no matter what trials there are, to give this moment back to Southwest Florida to say here was a year that had its challenges and let’s celebrate how resilient it really is.”
You can enjoy the WGCU HD TV Broadcast of “Joyful & Triumphant” on:
Monday, December 23 at 9 p.m.
Tuesday, December 24 8 p.m.
Wednesday, December 25 at 2 p.m.
The WGCU FM Radio broadcasts are:
Sunday, December 22 at 8 p.m.
Tuesday, December 24 at 7 p.m.
“Joyful & Triumphant” will be played on WGCU Classical FM Radio on Tuesday, December 24 at 8 p.m. Upon first airdate, the show will be on WGCU.org for streaming on demand.
Trent R. Brown is Professor of Music at Florida Gulf Coast University where he directs three of four choral ensembles, teaches courses in choral literature, conducting and choral methods, and supervises student teachers. As the artistic director of Choral Artistry, he conducts the adult, professional-core ensemble in multiple choral-orchestral performances and educational outreach activities in the region. He holds degrees from the University of Arizona (D.M.A.), The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (M.M.), and the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire (B.M.E.). He can be contacted at trbrown@fgcu.edu.
Bel Canto Choir is open to all sopranos and altos by audition regardless of major. The choir champions repertoire specifically composed for treble voices, especially works written by women. The ensemble began in fall of 2019 and has consistently impressed and inspired audiences in performance.
Cantabile Choir of tenor and bass voices includes students of all majors from across the university. This is the first year the ensemble has been offered as a course at FGCU. The singers are excited to begin a tradition of excellence that spreads across the university, and through the community of Southwest Florida.
The Chamber Choir is a mixed, auditioned ensemble open to all students regardless of major at FGCU. Recognized for their remarkable versatility, the ensemble performs choral music from the Renaissance to newly commissioned works. The choir performed for the Florida chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) conference in 2021. Every three years the choir performs internationally in such locales as Spain and France (2023), Rome (2020), the Baltic States (2017), and Austria and the Czech Republic (2014).
The University Choir is a non-auditioned, mixed ensemble open to students of all majors on campus at FGCU. The choir studies a diverse choral repertoire from many cultures and historical eras and gets the opportunity to work with choral clinicians from around the United States every year. Students in the ensemble receive general education (humanities) credit. The choir performs choral-orchestral masterworks, and have recently performed Poulenc’s "Gloria," Bernstein’s "Chichester Psalms," and will perform Dvorak’s "Te Deum" this April with the Naples Philharmonic Chorus.
The Symphony Orchestra is the top, auditioned orchestral ensemble at FGCU. The symphony performs on and off campus, and it frequently collaborates with the FGCU choirs in the Southwest Florida region. The repertoire of this versatile group ranges from large Romantic era works to smaller, Baroque and Classical productions and recently composed modern works.
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