Dear All, I will be in Boston this week to rehearse with the Firebird Ensemble and perform Jon Deak's Passion of Scrooge. Yesterday we had our first performance at East Boston in a middle school with about 300 school children. This Friday we will perform in Providence RI, at Community Music Works. After the performance at Emmanuel church on Saturday we will record the piece over two days at Merrimack College. I hope you can join us at Saturday's performance. EMMANUEL MUSIC and FIREBIRD ENSEMBLE present THE PASSION OF SCROOGE by Jon Deak Saturday December 16, 2007 at 3pm Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116 This vibrant musical work is a suspenseful, dramatic and sometimes amusing journey from past to future, during which the ten instrumentalists of the Firebird ensemble are actors as well as musicians. Soloist, Aaron Engebreth, acclaimed for his "beauty of voice and eloquence" (The Boston Globe), brings his exquisite vocal and acting abilities to multiple roles as he depicts Dickens' characters. The composer, Jon Deak with his exhilarating and animated compositional style, captures the spirit of the season and brilliantly executes the essence of this wonderful literary tale. In addition to The Passion of Scrooge by Jon Deak, the program also includes the hilarious A Not So Traditional Christmas Medley for string quintet by Cameron Wilson, and a selection of Christmas Carols for the audience to participate in, accompanied by the Firebird Ensemble. In 2005, for the second year running, former Globe critic Richard Dyer named Firebird Ensemble's performance of The Passion of Scrooge a Critic's Pick for the holiday season, and for good reason! "Scrooge" is an exciting, vibrant musical setting of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, which is suitable for all ages and dramatically presented by the Firebird Ensemble and baritone, Aaron Engebreth. The Boston based Firebird Ensemble has been described as "ambitious and eclectic (New York Times) and "flat out terrific" (New Music Connoisseur). For tix and concert information call: 617-480-5112 or email: [log in to unmask] "In the free-spirited Firebird Ensemble, Boston has its equivalent to such prominent, genre busting new-music ensembles as Eighth Blackbird or Alarm Will Sound."-Boston Globe, December 19th, 2005. Chris Younghoon Kim Director of Orchestras at Cornell University www.arts.cornell.edu/orchestra