Middletown Arts Center to Host Middletown Township, NJ Tree Lighting & Holiday Extravaganza

Nov. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- Middletown, NJ (November 29, 2010) - On Sunday, December 5th from 5-8 p.m., the Middletown Arts Center (MAC), located on 36 Church Street in Middletown (next to the Middletown train station), will host the Middletown Township Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Extravaganza for the whole family. The day’s FREE festivities will be enjoyed by over 200 families from across the Middletown region and include New Jersey’s only performance of TubaChristmas, a tree lighting, visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, carols, crafts and more.

The evening will kick off with the tree lighting at 5 p.m., followed by caroling by local high school students and traditional Christmas songs performed by TubaChristmas, an exciting ensemble of tuba and euphonium players from the community. The MAC’s TubaChristmas performance, conducted by Joseph Lawlor, is New Jersey’s only TubaChristmas event and one of over 200 concerts presented around the United States, including one in New York City’s Rockefeller Center. The event is a tribute to the late artist/teacher William J. Bell, born on Christmas Day 1902. Tuba and euphonium players interested in performing should contact Maggie O’Brien at 732-706-4100.  Also performing are Chris Andreach and the
Red Bank Saxophone Quartet with “Hymns, Carols, and Songs about Snow!

Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive by fi re tuck to pose for pictures with children. Guests are requested to bring their own camera, as a photographer will not be present to take photos. Throughout the event, children can participate in cartooning with the MAC’s Doodle Dude. Refreshments will be served.

“The Middletown Arts Center is honored to host a Tree Lighting and Holiday Extravaganza of free family-friendly entertainment. We invite the community to learn more about our state-of-the-art facility and the amazing talents of our artists and instructors. The arts are accessible and affordable for all ages and abilities at the MAC,” said Maggie O’Brien, Executive Director.

The event is FREE and open to the public. MAC events and programs are made possible by the generous support of the Middletown Township Arts & Cultural Council and donations from friends in the community.

For more information about the Middletown Arts Center’s Holiday Extravaganza, or to make arrangements if traveling by bus, contact Maggie O’Brien, MAC’s Executive Director, at 732-706-4100.

About the Middletown Arts Center
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning state of the art facility dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown. The MAC offers fun and enriching programs and entertainment for all ages and abilities. Visit www.middletownarts.org for more information. Find us on Facebook.

About TubaChristmas
TubaChristmas concerts are presented with permission from the Harvey Phillips Foundation, Inc., founded by Harvey Phillips in memory of his teacher, William J. Bell. Harvey Phillips is a distinguished professor emeritus of the Department of Music, Indiana University, and one of the most acclaimed tuba players in the world. He has commissioned more than 200 solo works for tuba and in 2008 was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame. Phillips is a native of Aurora, Missouri and attended the University of Missouri prior to being accepted to the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Harvey Phillips received an honorary doctorate from the University of Missouri in 1987, in part for his national efforts to establish TubaChristmas as an annual tradition.