Holiday Performance By Concert Society Chamber Orchestra Returning December 30

The Concert Society Chamber Orchestra will present its 9th Annual Holiday Concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, 36 Main Street in Newtown, on Wednesday, December 30. The performance will begin at 8 pm.

This year’s concert will be a special tribute to the late Richard E. Serbagi, who directed the Concert Society series in Newtown since its inception in 2001.

The concert will be directed by William Boughton (music director of New Haven Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of Wyastone Summer Series, UK) and feature solos by Maria Ferrante, soprano, and Wayne Hileman, bassoon.

The spirit of Mr Serbagi will live on in the selections he made for the program. The program will include Sinfonia X in B minor by Felix Mendelssohn, Cantata BWV 32  Aria “Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen” by J.S. Bach, Concerto for bassoon and orchestra in B-flat Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Cantata BWV 98 Aria: “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan” by J.S. Bach, and Sinfonia No. 5 in A Major by Joseph Haydn.

Tickets are $35, and must be purchased or reserved in advance. No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets are available by calling 203-270-4335 or at the NYFS building on 17 Church Hill Road.

Mr Serbagi’s Legacy

Richard Serbagi studied cello at New England Conservatory in Boston and at The Royal Manchester College of Music in England. As a member of the US Air Force at the time of the Korean conflict, he was called to join the newly formed 7th Army Symphony Orchestra, stationed in Stuttgart, which performed in Leipzig, Bremerhaven, Duesseldorf, Munich, and numerous smaller German towns, led by the venerable Dimitri Metropolis.

Back in the United States, Mr Serbagi played with the Utah Symphony under the direction of Maurice Abravanel, American Ballet Theater, and Chicago Opera Ballet. For several years, Mr Serbagi performed with the Symphony Orchestra of Puerto Rico at Pablo Casals Festival.

After a nerve condition in his left arm limited his ability to play, he went on to take his master’s in education at Western Connecticut State University. For 20 years, he conducted the orchestra program at New Canaan High School.

For the 2002 season Mr Serbagi was invited to conduct the Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra in Puerto Rico in a program that featured American composers of the 20th Century.

Mr Serbagi, who had lived in Newtown since 1989, loved that the series by The Concert Society Chamber Orchestra has been popular in town since its inception.

“It’s fantastic to play a concert right in my hometown, and to have it appreciated,” he told The Newtown Bee in 2005, the year the concert was a benefit for Kevin’s Community Center. Performances have also supported Newtown Friends of Music’s school outreach program, Newtown Scholarship Association, and C.H. Booth Library, among others. Performances have typically been standing room only since the beginning of the series.

“The town has always been wonderful. The bands, the people [who] have gotten behind these performances and have solicited banks and others to support the series,” Mr Serbagi said. “So here we have this wonderful town that’s saying Yes, we will support this concert and Yes, we will support these groups the concerts raise money for.

“That,” said Mr Serbagi, “is a wonderful gesture.”