Bonnie Gritton and Susan Duehlmeier

Each year University of Utah pianists Susan Duehlmeier and Bonnie Gritton present a holiday concert where they’re joined by some of their colleagues. This year’s concert, which takes place Dec. 11, will be something special because of the number of people taking part. Joining Duehlmeier and Gritton will be conductor Barlow Bradford and the University Singers; cellist Elliott Cheney; flutist Susan Goodfellow; soprano Melissa Heath; and pianists Larry Gee and Jeffrey Price. “It seems like a lot of people but all the pieces we’re doing are short, so the concert won’t last more than an hour,” Duehlmeier told Reichel Recommends. The music on the program has been arranged by U. faculty members/alumni Igor Iachimciuc and Aram Arakelyan.

The concert is part of the Sundays@7 series and is free of charge, although donations will be accepted, Duehlmeier said. There will also be a Christmas CD available for purchase that includes many of the pieces that will be performed.

The concert is actually a benefit for the U. piano area’s outreach program that helps Title I schools. “These are elementary and middle schools in the Salt Lake School District that are 90 percent in poverty or have one parent families,” Duehlmeier said, adding that members of the piano department at the U. volunteer their time to teach piano to these at risk youngsters. “The program has been in existence since the 1990s,” Gritton said, “and we’ve had quite a lot of success stories.”

One story Gritton likes to tell is about a couple of boys at Glendale Middle School who were in opposing gangs. “They enrolled in the piano program and started playing the piano together,” she said. The two will be playing a reggae duet at Sunday’s concert.

Those attending will get a chance to hear several of the young pianists. Three students from the program will be playing onstage as part of the concert, and several others will play in the Libby Gardner lobby 30 minutes before the start of the concert.

CONCERT INFO:

What: Holiday Concert with Susan Duehlmeier, Bonnie Gritton and “Friends”

Venue: Libby Gardner Concert Hall, University of Utah

Time and Date: 7 p.m. Dec. 11

Tickets: Free, but donations accepted to benefit the University of Utah piano department’s outreach program