Restored orchestral arrangements made famous by Judy Garland will anchor the Rogue Valley Symphony’s holiday concert later this month.
The symphony will perform "A Judy Garland Christmas" on Dec. 19 at the Angus Bowmer Theatre on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival campus in Ashland, Oregon.
The concert features soprano Joan Ellison, who has spent nearly a decade working to restore Garland’s original arrangements. Ellison serves as editor of the Judy Garland Carnegie Hall Concert Restoration Project for the Judy Garland Heirs Trust and will perform the restored orchestrations during the concert. She will also appear in costumes inspired by Garland’s stage performances.
Rogue Valley Symphony Music Director Martin Majkut joins the Exchange to discuss the concert and the process of bringing Garland's music back to the stage.
Majkut has served as music director of the Rogue Valley Symphony since 2010 and was appointed music director of the Oregon Coast Music Festival in 2025. He was born in Bratislava, in what is now Slovakia, and came to the U.S. as a Fulbright scholar in 2003.
