Vancouver Symphony Orchestra HOLIDAY POPS To Feature A Special Performance By Columbia Dance

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA will present its Holiday Pops concert program on December 14 and 15, 2024 at Skyview Concert Hall. This year, the highly anticipated festive program will be guest conducted by internationally acclaimed maestro and rising star Farkhad Khudyev.

The performance will kick off with a grand overture by Suppé, followed by an enchanting performance by Columbia Dance to a suite from Tchaikovsky's timeless Swan Lake. Additionally, David Shifrin, one of the finest clarinetists of our time, will join the VSO for a set of three entertaining works by Eldar Hudiyev, John Williams, and Michele Mangani's Blues from “An American in Paris.” The orchestra will also perform a selection of beloved holiday tunes including a particularly popular Viennese classic.
The excitement continues with All Classical Radio's President and CEO, Suzanne Nance, serving as the program's master of ceremonies, guiding the audience through delightful surprises and cheerful fun.

Tickets available at vancouversymphony.org. 5-concert symphonic season subscriptions are on sale at vancouversymphony.org or by calling (360)735-7278. Virtual-only tickets are also available, and all in-person ticket holders will have the option of viewing virtually.
The Saturday performance at Skyview Concert Hall will begin at 7:00 pm.

The celebrated VSO pre-concert show, hosted by a VSO musician or Maestro Salvador Brotons, will be available for concert goers to attend before the program from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm. The virtual live stream programming begins at 6:30 pm on Saturday to air Da Capo, a pre-recorded educational discussion of the composers and pieces being performed. The Sunday performance will begin at 3:00 pm, with the pre-concert show available to attend in-person from 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm. The virtual live stream programming begins at 2:30 pm on Sunday.

All ticket holders will receive a secure email link to access the live stream performances.

About Farkhad Khudyev

Farkhad Khudyev has performed around the United States, Europe and Asia at world-class venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy, DR Koncerthuset in Denmark, Zhongshan Hall in Taiwan, Shaanxi Performing Center in China, the Alte Oper Frankfurt Großer Saal and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festpiele in Germany.

Mr. Khudyev has served as the Music Director of New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra, New Haven Chamber Orchestra, Youth Music Monterey County, as well as the Associate Conductor of the Hidden Valley Opera and the Assistant Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in England.

Currently, Mr. Khudyev serves as the Music Director of the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra and the Assistant Professor of Music in Orchestral Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as the Music Director of the Orchestral Institute at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts in Carmel, California.

Farkhad Khudyev was born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where he first studied violin, piano and composition at the State Music School for gifted musicians. At the age of 10, he distinguished himself as the youngest performer selected to play with the National Violin Ensemble of Turkmenistan, and toured around Central Asia and Eastern Europe. As a soloist and a member of the Ensemble, Farkhad performed for the Presidents of France, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. At the age of 12, he was chosen to represent the country at the International New Names Festival, sponsored by the Moscow Conservatory, and was named as one of the most promising young musicians at the festival.

About David Shifrin

Winner of both the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1987) and the Avery Fisher Prize (2000), David Shifrin is in constant demand as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber music collaborator. Mr. Shifrin has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras and the Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Milwaukee, Detroit, Fort Worth, Hawaii and Phoenix Symphonies, among many others in the United States, as well as with orchestras in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan. He has also received critical acclaim as a recitalist, appearing at such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie's Hall's Zankel Hall and the 92nd Street Y in New York City, as well as the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. A much sought after chamber musician, he has collaborated frequently with such distinguished ensembles and artists as the Guarneri, Tokyo, Emerson, Orion, Dover and Miró String Quartets, as well as Wynton Marsalis, André Watts, Emanuel Ax and André Previn.

An artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1989, Mr. Shifrin served as its Artistic Director from 1992 to 2004. He has toured extensively throughout the United States with CMSLC and hosted and performed in several national television broadcasts on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center. He also served as Artistic Director of Portland's Chamber Music Northwest from 1981 through 2020, and is currently Artistic Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Festival.
About Columbia Dance

Columbia Dance's mission is to present dance as a life-enhancing experience for their students and community by setting high artistic standards in classical ballet education and performance, while creating a positive, nurturing, and challenging environment where dance appreciation thrives.

Columbia Dance is dedicated to offering excellence in classical ballet training and a variety of other dance forms. They offer a diversity of performance experiences for young dancers. Each season, they present a full length Nutcracker, which has become a seasonal tradition within the community. Spring brings their annual Choreographer's Showcase, designed to encourage young, pre-professional choreographers. And finally, they present their annual production, Columbia Dance Spring Showcase, an eclectic repertory concert featuring the students of Columbia Dance, guest choreographers and works by their faculty.

Company Alumni have found careers in professional dance companies and careers as teachers, lawyers, doctors and leaders in the community. Their Alumni have danced professionally with Attack Theatre, BodyVox, Éowyn Emerald & Dancers, Georgia Ballet, Idaho Dance Theatre, Young Americans Japan Tour and Midwest US Tour, The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Nashville Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre, Nevada Ballet Theatre, North Atlanta Dance Theatre, Northwest Dance Project, Nguyen Dance Company, The Pillow Project, and Rasta Thomas' Bad Boys of Dance.

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