Lyric Fest Presents Letters to Santa

Lyric Fest Presents Letters to Santa

Kick Off the Holiday Season with a Happy Hour and Mini Concert

In a new concert format that combines a happy hour with a week night mini concert, Lyric Fest starts the holiday season Tuesday, December 6th, 2016 at 5:30 PM at The Academy of Vocal Arts with a quirky and touching performance featuring Sara Duchovnay, Keith Phares, Katharine Pracht and Laura Ward on the piano.

Letters to Santa is a  song cycle created by composer Logan Skelton after sifting through hundreds of children’s letters to Santa to find the perfect one for Lyric Fest’s 2016 Letters concert. With too much content to leave untouched, Skelton set letters dating from the 1800’s to the present.

Said Skelton, “I set out to compose one song! One thing led to another and before I knew it I had 17 songs. The end result is a cycle that invites the listener into the multi-faceted, often quirky and magical world of children.”

The set begins with an aphorism drawn from one of the most beloved works of children’s literature, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Together with the letters Skelton creates a story of the season’s hope and joy and children’s attempt to understand the adult world they inhabit.

Of the happy hour format, founding artistic director Suzanne DuPlantis says, “We were inspired to create a new concert format, to reach new audiences.” She continues, “We thought pairing drinks and small bites with a shorter concert on a weeknight might be perfect for commuters stopping by on their way home, or for those who are on their way to dinner reservations, who might be looking for a little bit of music to enrich their week.”