The 33rd annual “Christmas Dinner and Concert,” featuring The Gary Civic Symphony Orchestra, area soloists, a delicious dinner and give-aways, will be held on Monday, December 12 at The Genesis Center, 5th and Broadway in Gary, IN. This event is called “our season’s opener” and will feature holiday music favorites, excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah,” a popular audience Christmas Carol sing-along, and an open invitation for all to come and enjoy. Tickets are $45 in advance, $50 at the door, and $25 for youth, 18 and under. For more information call Naomi Millender at 219-902-0524 or Mademoiselle’s Health & Beauty Salon at 219-944-7983 for tickets, ads or info. The event organizers request attendees bring their “Messiah” books from previous engagements if they have them.
The Gary Civic Symphony Orchestra is the official professional community symphony orchestra of Gary, Indiana. The Gary Civic Symphony Orchestra began back in the mid -1970s as a musical ensemble of friends who wanted to fill the cultural void left in Gary, Indiana when the original symphony left. The orchestra played for teas, receptions, church events, dinners, and usually for “free” (smiles). As their reputation and number of musicians grew, the members eventually performed a major concert under the baton of the late Bessye Tatum in 1982.
Since the 1982 concert, GCSO has added several annual concerts, which include a Christmas Season dinner concert, children’s concert co-sponsored with the Gary Community School Corporation, tributes to African American musicians and composers, the area’s first “Do It Yourself MESSIAH,” and a GCSO Jazz Orchestra concert.
Today, the Gary Civic Symphony Orchestra, or any of its ensembles and or jazz orchestras will travel at home and abroad to share their music with others.
