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Epic Christmas Series  •  Full Orchestra

Christmas Overture

Ten carols. Six and a half minutes. One big Christmas opener.

Carolers at the door, a peal of church bells, Joy to the World, a Sugar Plum wink in God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, a false ending, and a celebration that brings the house down. For full orchestra, with an optional SATB choir and an optional rhythm section, so it fits a symphony, a pops orchestra, a church Christmas program or an advanced school orchestra.

✓ Instant Download ✓ Yours to Keep Forever ✓ No Rental or Per-Performance Fees

Follow the full score. Hear all four versions further down the page.

Choose Your Performance Experience

Instant PDF Downloads • Reference Mockups • Editable Source Files

Feature Symphony Standard
$399
Symphony Premiere
$649
Symphony Deluxe
$899
Conductor's Score (11x17) with program notes and rehearsal notes ✔ ✔ ✔
Complete Part Set in Score Order (9x12 & 8.5x11), B♭ parts for clarinets and trumpets ✔ ✔ ✔
Optional SATB Choir (with rehearsal piano) and Rhythm Section (drum set or conga, electric bass) ✔ ✔ ✔
Four Reference Mockups: drum set or conga, each with and without choir ✔ ✔ ✔
Electric Guitar & Handbell Parts (free update) Soon Soon Soon
Editable Source Files (Dorico + MusicXML + MIDI) – ✔ ✔
Multi-Track Stems from the Mockup (WAV, free update) – Soon Soon
Printed & Bound Score with Full Part Set, Shipped – – ✔

Note: Each tier includes everything in the tier before it. One score and one part set cover every version: orchestra alone, with choir, with drum set or conga, or all of it. The electric guitar and handbell parts and the multi-track stems are coming soon, and each is added free to every tier that lists it.

Own It. Don't Rent It.

Most full orchestra Christmas works this size are rental only. You pay every season and send the parts back. This one is yours to keep. Buy it once and perform it every December, with no rental and no per-performance fees.

Christmas Overture - Symphony Standard
  • Christmas Overture - Symphony Standard
  • Christmas Overture - Symphony Standard

Christmas Overture - Symphony Standard

EPIC CHRISTMAS SERIES SYMPHONY MASTER SUITE — STANDARD The Complete Orchestra Edition — $399 Ten Christmas carols in one six and a half minute overture for full orchestra. The score and every part, ready for the first Read more
EPIC CHRISTMAS SERIES

SYMPHONY MASTER SUITE — STANDARD

The Complete Orchestra Edition — $399

Ten Christmas carols in one six and a half minute overture for full orchestra. The score and every part, ready for the first rehearsal, with an optional choir and an optional rhythm section that carry the finish.

The Carols: Here We Come A-Caroling, Joy to the World, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, The First Noel, O Come, All Ye Faithful, Angels We Have Heard on High and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, with cameos from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Deck the Halls and Angels from the Realms of Glory.

Conductor's Score: 11x17, with program notes, rehearsal notes by measure and the full instrumentation.

The Complete Part Set: Every part at both 9x12 and 8.5x11, in score order. Piccolo (Flute 3), two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets in A, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets in C, two trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, four percussion, celesta, harp and strings. B flat parts are included for both clarinets and all three trumpets.

Optional Choir and Rhythm Section: An SATB choir part, with a piano reduction for rehearsal, brings the choir in for the finish. Drum set and electric bass join the orchestra near the end. No drum set? A conga part covers it on any hand drum you have. Or leave the rhythm section out.

Built for the Players You Have: No celesta? Play the part on piano or a keyboard. Clarinets in A or B flat. Trumpets in C or B flat. Drum set, conga or neither. Choir or no choir.

Reference Recordings: Four full mockups: drum set or conga, each with and without choir. Hear the version you plan to program before the first rehearsal.

Coming Free to Every Owner: An electric guitar part with a solo near the end, and a handbell part that can replace the celesta or play alongside it. When they are ready they are added to your download.

Every Way You Can Program It: A pure orchestral opener. A closer with choir. A pops showpiece with drum set and bass. A church Christmas program with choir and conga. One score, one set of parts, and the ending grows with whatever you add.

Production: Arranged and orchestrated by Matt Riley.

Teachers and music directors — see Maestro membership for printing rights and 50% off the catalog. Schools, universities, orchestras and churches can pay $200 a year, one invoice, one receipt.

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$399.00
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Christmas Overture - Symphony Standard

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Christmas Overture - Symphony Premiere
  • Christmas Overture - Symphony Premiere
  • Christmas Overture - Symphony Premiere

Christmas Overture - Symphony Premiere

EPIC CHRISTMAS SERIES SYMPHONY MASTER SUITE — PREMIERE Everything, Plus the Editable Source Files — $649 Everything in the Standard tier is included, plus the editable Dorico project, MusicXML and MIDI. This is the tier Read more
EPIC CHRISTMAS SERIES

SYMPHONY MASTER SUITE — PREMIERE

Everything, Plus the Editable Source Files — $649

Everything in the Standard tier is included, plus the editable Dorico project, MusicXML and MIDI. This is the tier for the director who wants to change something. The multi-track stems from the mockup are coming soon, free to everyone who owns this suite.

Editable Source Files: The Dorico project, MusicXML and a MIDI file of the full score. Transpose it, make cuts, write the choir into more of the piece, or rework the orchestration for the players you have, in Dorico, Finale, Sibelius, MuseScore or a DAW.

Multi-Track Stems, Coming Soon: The individual stems from the mockup, for covering a missing section, building your own mix, or a video or worship production. When they are ready they are attached to this product as a separate download and you get them free.

The Complete Standard Suite: The 11x17 conductor's score, every part at both 9x12 and 8.5x11 with B flat alternates for clarinets and trumpets, the SATB choir and rhythm section parts, and the four reference mockups.

Coming Free to Every Owner: An electric guitar part with a solo near the end, and a handbell part that can replace the celesta or play alongside it. When they are ready they are added to your download.

Every Way You Can Program It: Everything the Standard tier can do, and the ability to change any of it. An orchestral opener, a closer with choir, a pops showpiece with drum set and bass, or a church program with choir and conga, cut and scored to fit your players.

Production: Arranged and orchestrated by Matt Riley.

Teachers and music directors — see Maestro membership for printing rights and 50% off the catalog. Schools, universities, orchestras and churches can pay $200 a year, one invoice, one receipt.

In cart Not available Out of stock
$649.00
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Christmas Overture - Symphony Premiere

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Christmas Overture - Symphony Deluxe
  • Christmas Overture - Symphony Deluxe
  • Christmas Overture - Symphony Deluxe

Christmas Overture - Symphony Deluxe

Includes a download of Christmas Overture - Symphony Premiere
EPIC CHRISTMAS SERIES SYMPHONY MASTER SUITE — DELUXE The Complete Premiere Suite + Printed Score and Parts, Shipped — $899 Everything in the Premiere Suite, plus a professionally printed and bound conductor's score with Read more
EPIC CHRISTMAS SERIES

SYMPHONY MASTER SUITE — DELUXE

The Complete Premiere Suite + Printed Score and Parts, Shipped — $899

Everything in the Premiere Suite, plus a professionally printed and bound conductor's score with one copy of every part, shipped to you. No printing, no collating, no last minute run to the copy shop the week of the concert.

Printed and Bound: The 11x17 conductor's score and one copy of every part, including the B flat alternates, the choir part and the rhythm section, printed for the stand and shipped to your door. Print extra string and choir copies from the PDFs as you need them.

The Complete Digital Suite: Everything in the Premiere tier comes with it. The score and every part at both page sizes, the choir and rhythm section parts, the four reference mockups, and the editable Dorico project, MusicXML and MIDI.

Multi-Track Stems, Coming Soon: The individual stems from the mockup are on the way. When they are ready they are added to your download and you get them free.

Coming Free to Every Owner: An electric guitar part with a solo near the end, and a handbell part that can replace the celesta or play alongside it. When they are ready they are added to your download.

Every Way You Can Program It: An orchestral opener, a closer with choir, a pops showpiece with drum set and bass, or a church program with choir and conga. One printed set covers all of them.

Maestro members receive 25% off print orders in addition to the member discount on the digital catalog.

Production: Arranged and orchestrated by Matt Riley.

Teachers and music directors — see Maestro membership for printing rights and 50% off the catalog. Schools, universities, orchestras and churches can pay $200 a year, one invoice, one receipt.

In cart Not available Out of stock
$899.00
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Christmas Overture - Symphony Deluxe

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Hear All Four Versions

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  1. 1
    Christmas Overture (mockup with drum set and choir) 6:38
    Christmas Overture (mockup with drum set and choir)
    by Matt Riley

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  2. 2
    Christmas Overture (mockup with conga and choir) 6:38
    Christmas Overture (mockup with conga and choir)
    by Matt Riley

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  3. 3
    Christmas Overture (mockup with drum set, no choir) 6:38
    Christmas Overture (mockup with drum set, no choir)
    by Matt Riley

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  4. 4
    Christmas Overture (mockup with conga, no choir) 6:38
    Christmas Overture (mockup with conga, no choir)
    by Matt Riley

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About the Music

A knock at the door, a few carolers on the step, and a song drifting in from the cold. Christmas Overture opens with Here We Come A-Caroling, hushed and a little magical, like the first snow before the party starts.

Then the bells begin. A church-bell montage fills the air, and old friends peek through it: Angels We Have Heard on High, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Deck the Halls, and Angels from the Realms of Glory. A rush of strings throws the doors wide open on Joy to the World.

The mood turns dark and playful for God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. Pizzicato strings and celesta tip a hat to Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy before the full orchestra grabs the tune and drives it hard. Then everything settles. A solo clarinet sings The First Noel over soft strings. The brass rise in a chorale on O Come, All Ye Faithful, and the whole orchestra joins for the refrain. It slows. It swells. It sounds like the end.

It isn't. A burst of celebration brings in We Wish You a Merry Christmas. The music lifts into the "Gloria" of Angels We Have Heard on High, climbs again, and heads for home on one more round of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, with optional choir joining for the finish.

Full orchestra • ca. 6:30 • Advanced high school through professional • Optional SATB choir and rhythm section

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