This Thursday, December 12th, at 7:30 PM at the Centennial Concert Hall there will be an unforgettable evening filled with the timeless music of John Denver.
Called A Rocky Mountain High Christmas, this concert will highlight the music of John Denver in all its glory, featuring not only his hits, but also Christmas songs from his iconic special that he did with the Muppets.
This tribute to John Denver is a genuine celebration. Rather than trying to imitate the legendary artist, the concert will focus solely on the music. Making use of arrangements that were done by his longtime friend and arranger Lee Holdridge.
The concert is headlined by Canadian recording artists Rick and Steve Worrall. They will be joined by the Winnipeg Youth Choir, a Canadian All-Star band and a symphony made up musicians from across Canada.
This is going to be a spectacular Holiday concert that celebrates the music of a singer songwriter that helped define a generation. A musician who was and is beloved by many worldwide.
The celebration of John Denver's music on stage started in 2018. Rick Worrall grew up listening to Denver and was inspired by his music for his own musical growth and for his own professional career. “Growing up, learning the guitar, cutting my teeth with a lot of John’s music and some of the other folk artists... John’s music always rose to the top. There was something about it that just clicked in my soul.”
The Rocky Mountain High celebration concerts started partly as a musical rescue project in 2016. “We started this rescue project of John’s symphony scores. It was at the end of 2016 that I contacted Lee [Holdridge] about this idea. We spent about a year and a half reconstructing enough material to do a concert.
Lee Holdridge was Denver’s longtime friend and arranger. He describes the process of rebuilding his arrangements. “I had to go find the original handwritten manuscripts that I had because the John Denver management company, after John died had thrown all that stuff away, much to my horror. Fortunately, I had all my own handwritten manuscripts, but I didn’t have the parts I just had the scores, so I told Rick we have to create new scores and parts, so he suggested putting it all into the Sibelius notation software.”
Holdridge also points out the Denver loved performing with orchestras and loved touring with them and recording with them. “We are in a sense recreating his world...they [the band] really did woodshed this and learn how to play the guitar part exactly the way John would have played them. So, it’s very, very much an echo of that time brought to life in a new way.”
Audiences on Thursday night will hear all the down the line hits that made Denver famous. As Worell says, “It’s always as challenge when you put together a Christmas Concert with his hits. And one of the challenges we have tried to overcome is ‘what songs do you drop in order to put in a Christmas song.’ We cover off the major songs that people know Take Me Home, Rocky Mountain High, and then we put together a medley of music that are just of his hits to try to get as many in as we possibly can...and then surround it by the Christmas music that he is so well known for.”
The musicians on stage will consist of Rick and Steve Worrall, as well as a band that will be augmented by musicians from the WSO. The Winnipeg Youth Choir will also be on stage to help fill things out. Winnipeg opera singers Lara Ciekiewicz and Classic 107’s own Nolan Kehler will also be on stage to perform selections with Rick Worrall and the band.
As Holdridge describes the concert, “It’s quite a rainbow of styles...everything from the hoe-down fiddle to opera. It is amazing!”
For anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s John Denver was ubiquitous in the zeitgeist, and his Christmas specials always made for “must-see" T.V. Thursday’s A Rocky Mountain High Christmas at the Centennial Concert Hall will be an opportunity to rejoice in the nostalgia and the supreme musicianship of Denver. It will also give parents an opportunity to introduce their children to the musically satisfying, comforting friendliness of John Denver’s world.
A Rocky Mountain High Christmas happens this Thursday, December 12th, at 7:30 PM at the Centennial Concert Hall.
