The Duxbury 375th Celebration Committee will be presenting its third and final Candlelight Concert program Friday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center. This concert will showcase the award-winning Duxbury High School music ensembles and faculty with special guest conductor Steven Karidoyanes.

Our forefathers would be very impressed with the music accomplishments of Duxbury youth these last 375 years. In recent history, the music ensembles traveled to San Francisco in 2007 to compete in the Heritage Festival and came home with 12 gold medals including the Adjudicators’ Award, Sweepstakes Award and Best Overall Award; in 2007, the orchestra was the only ensemble selected to perform at the 50th All-East Music Educators’ Conference in Hartford; in 2008, the Wind Ensemble earned gold at MICCA-Symphony Hall Boston; and in 2011, the Wind Ensemble earned Gold Medal at Heritage Festival Washington, D.C. and the Chamber Singers were invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. The ensembles are frequently invited to perform at the MMEA annual meetings including 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. In addition to performing with Plymouth Philharmonic they have performed at Carnegie Hall 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011. Most recently Duxbury was honored by NAMM 2012 as one of the Top 100 Communities for Music Education in the United States.

The talented DHS musicians will be performing Mozart’s “Gloria” from the Twelfth Mass (Chamber Singers under the direction of Robert Judge), the “Italian Symphony” by Mendelssohn (string ensemble under the direction of Nick Tatarka) and “Symphony No. 1 Lord of The Rings” by Johan de Meijas, as well as “Second Suite in F” by Gustav Holst (Wind Ensemble under the direction of Ric Madru and Jill Noerenberg).

The special event of the evening will be the finale “Homeland” under the direction of conductor Steven Karidoyanes, “I am thrilled and feel so privileged to conduct this grand finale of Duxbury’s 375th Candlelight Concert.” Steven continues,  “The music directors of Duxbury High School have chosen for the finale “Homeland,” an exciting and appropriate musical selection by American composer Z. Randall Stroope, to celebrate Duxbury’s historical anniversary.  This music showcases the high school’s extraordinary choral, orchestral and band programs, combining them all together to great effect.  In “Homeland,” composer Stroope melds his own original music and lyrics with Gustav Holst’s familiar and magnificent “Jupiter” melody from “The Planets” and Cecil String-Rice’s stirring hymn text to “I Vow to Thee My Country.”  The cumulative affect is celebratory music on a grand scale, majestic and inspiring.”  You won’t want to miss this special concert.

Following the performance, the audience is invited to a dessert reception to congratulate the students, music instructors and Steven Karidoyanes for the much appreciated concert and job well done. Tickets are available at Westwinds Bookshop in Duxbury, French Memories and Duxbury Senior Center, $15 each.