The Merrill High School Bands will close out the MAPS holiday concert season with their first concert of the year on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the MHS auditorium.
The bands will be playing pieces from the standard repertoire of band literature, as well as some holiday arrangements. The Symphonic Band, under the direction of Matt Callope, will perform “Renaissance Festival & Dances” by Bruce Pearson, Pierre LaPlante’s “American Riversongs,” and “Themes from the Nutcracker Suite” by Tchaikovsky. The Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Kevin Short, will be playing “Festivo” by Vaclav Nehlybel, Karl King’s “Rough Riders,” and the four-movement “Second Suite in F” by Gustav Holst, which features a well-known holiday melody.
Admission is free. In conjunction with the concert, the Merrill Band Endowment will be holding a “Dinner, Dessert, and a Concert” event at Culver’s in Merrill on Dec. 19.  A percentage of the day’s proceeds will be donated to the Endowment to help provide scholarships for MHS Band students.