TubaChristmas and the Civic Orchestra

It was a weekend of free holiday concerts here, with TubaChristmas on Saturday and the Civic Orchestra of Tucson on Sunday.

TubaChristmas was fun! It was outside at the Oro Valley Marketplace holiday art festival in beautiful weather. I counted 36 tuba players, ranging in age from 11 to 79, playing all sorts of tubas and decked out in some crazy outfits.

The conductor, a professor of music at the University of Arizona in Tucson, explained that TubaChristmas (one word) is a concert held in cities worldwide that celebrates those who play, teach and compose music for instruments in the tuba family. I thought a tuba was a tuba, like the ones in the high school marching band. But there are sousaphones, baritones, euphoniums, silicons, ophicleides, serpents and the double bell euphonium! TubaChristmas has been going on around the world for 50 years.

They played traditional holiday tunes and passed out lyric sheets so we could sing along. It was fun!

The Civic Orchestra concert was more dignified and was in the ballroom of the El Conquistador resort. I didn't take photos during the concert because I didn't have a good view, but during intermission I found Mr. and Mrs. Claus mingling with concertgoers in the lobby. Their outfits were embellished with beautiful embroidered snowflakes.

Have a colorful day