Notre Dame Children’s Choir will perform alongside Arturo Sandoval, an “award-winning jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer,” the University announced in a press release Tuesday.
The performance is part of a concert, “Swinging Christmas with the Arturo Sandoval Big Band,” that will take place in the Walt Disney Concert Hall at 8 p.m. on Dec. 21. The choir will be performing in honor of Sandoval’s new album “Arturo Sandoval’s Christmas at Notre Dame.”
The album was recorded in May 2017, according to the release. After receiving an honorary degree in 2016, Sandoval returned to Notre Dame to record the album. It includes both religious and secular well-known Christmas songs, including “Silent Night” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
Sandoval released the album in October, according to the release, and it has been among the top five spots on the Billboard’s Chart of Jazz Albums for the last six weeks. The album features the Notre Dame Children’s Choir, the Notre Dame Jazz Ensemble and Symphonic Winds.
“This album unites a wide cross-section of the Notre Dame community, with undergraduate and graduate students, child choristers and professional musicians to create vibrant renditions of classic Christmas music,” Mark Doerries, director of the children’s choir, said in the release.
Emily Swope, who is pursuing a master’s in voice at Notre Dame, and Alexander Mansour, a senior majoring in music, will join the children’s choir on their tour. Mansour arranged seven of the songs on Sandoval’s album, the release said.
Funds raised by “Arturo Sandoval’s Christmas at Notre Dame” will contribute to the Arturo Sandoval Institute Scholarship at Notre Dame. According to the release, the scholarship “provides access, support and inspiration to music students so they may continue their music education without economic worry.”
Recognized around the world as a jazz and classical musician and composer, Sandoval has earned an Emmy Award, six Billboard awards and 10 Grammy Awards, according to the release. In 2013, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor for civilians in the U.S. Now, he is an emeritus professor at Florida International University, though he continues to travel to teach clinics and perform, according to the release.
“Arturo Sandoval’s trumpet raises our spirits and gladdens our hearts as we celebrate Christmas,” Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins said in the release. “His musical expression of unbridled joy and goodwill calls us to embrace the love, charity and reconciliation at the heart of this blessed season. ‘Arturo Sandoval’s Christmas at Notre Dame’ is sure to become a holiday classic.”
The Notre Dame Children’s Choir was founded in 2013, and now includes more than 300 members, whose ages range from 1 to 17. They have toured around the country, as well as participated in a TEDx talk, according to the release.
Following their performance with Sandoval, the children’s choir will also offer a concert in Huntington Beach, Calif. Free and open to the public, the concert will take place at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 23.
Concert tickets for the performance on Dec. 21 can be purchased at www.laphil.com.
