Orchestra extravagnza will test convention center

EDINBURG - What is a Christmas concert without a light show? Or ballet dancers? Or mariachis?

The Dec. 9 performance by the Valley Symphony Orchestra will end with the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah - as much a part of the traditional Christmas oveure as "Jingle Bells" - but the group's program will be as eclectic as the Rio Grande Valley itself.

Mexican pop star Luis Miguel and Americana composer Leroy Anderson will rub shoulders on the program with George Frideric Handel and José Pablo Moncayo.

"It will be truly a fascinating event which really brings everybody together from both sides of the river," said Peter Dembrowski, the orchestra's conductor.

But the event will also be the McAllen Convention Center's first audition as a major concert venue.

Dancers, a chorale and mariachis will join the 75-member orchestra on a custom-built, tiered stage in the main exhibit hall.

The a cavernous, echoing space can seat 2,600 - more than 800 more than the nearby Civic Center - but without the auditorium seating and friendly acoustics that come with other more conventional performance spaces.

The change will require lighting and sound experts to transform and prepare the room, tamping down the echoes and softening the harsh fluorescent light, said the orchestra's executive director, Monica Folk.

"None of the other venues where we perform can hold the audience and we expect to sell out," Folk said of the Dec. 9 show. The Convention Center, meanwhile, "opened up some opportunity for us to do something a little different."

An ordinary stage can barely hold the entire orchestra; the expanded set-up, with separate tiers to improve the view for those with far-away seats, will have room for the Chorale and dance performances.

Amarante Lucero, a University of Texas-Austin professor and theatrical lighting design specialist who is a visiting professor at UTPA this year, was invited to improve the visual spectacle with an automated lighting setup that will move with the performances.

"It's just incredible how light can enhance music and dance," Dembrowski said.

The December show is the orchestra's most popular concert, and one of only two in which the 100-member chorale performs.

Tickets will range from $9 to $45 - about half the usual prices, a nod to the turmoil in the economy, Folk said.