Malone hosts Canton TubaChristmas in collaboration with Canton City School District
The Malone University Department of Music is partnering with the Canton City School District to host Canton TubaChristmas on Saturday, December 1 in the Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine Arts.
2018 is the 45th anniversary for worldwide TubaChristmas concerts and events. Founded in 1974 by the late Harvey Phillips as a tribute to his teacher and mentor William J. Bell, TubaChristmas honors musical excellence and comradery through shared enjoyment of festive repertoire. Phillips, the distinguished professor of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (Bloomington), was a celebrated advocate for the tuba, inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame Class of 2007 with Yo-Yo Ma and the Cleveland Orchestra before his death in 2010.
“I have been a coordinator for TubaChristmas for years, in the various cities where I have worked and performed,” said Otis French, director of bands and coordinator of instrumental music studies at Malone. “I studied with Professor Phillips when I was a graduate student at Indiana University and since his passing have also developed a friendship with his son, Thomas.”
French, a retired U.S. Army major, is in his first year of teaching at Malone.
“When I submitted an application to the Harvey Phillips Foundation for Malone to serve as a host site for TubaChristmas this year, I learned that Joselyn Shaffer from the Canton City School District had also requested the date we preferred,” French said. “What a great opportunity to collaborate! Ms. Shaffer was a tuba student at the University of Akron, whose professor also had ties to Harvey Phillips. We are excited to combine our efforts into one large event and hope it will become a tradition here at Malone.”
The HARVEY PHILLIPS FOUNDATION, INC. (HPF) is a not-for-profit foundation incorporated in the state of New York and dedicated to "...developing, expanding, and preserving the music arts..." The Foundation focuses special attention on musical instruments not ordinarily the object of other support and facilitates its goals by providing scholarship assistance to selected established institutions which offer academic and music performance training.
Tuba enthusiasts of any age or skill level are invited to participate in Canton TubaChristmas on Saturday, December 1. Registration for participation opens at 5 p.m. and the cost to perform is $10. Rehearsal for participants is from 6-7 p.m., followed immediately with a performance at 7:30 p.m.
The performance will be held in the Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine Arts. It is free and open to the public.