“Christmas Music Magic” is the theme of the Ironton Council for the Arts annual holiday musical celebration at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the Ironton High School auditorium. Several local performers including the Ironton High School Varsity Singers and the Ohio University Southern Community Band will be featured.

In addition to the season ticket holders, admission to the performance will be $5 per adult and free for students and children. Everyone is encouraged to bring a toy to be donated to the Ironton City Mission and canned food that will be donated to the Harvest for the Hungry Food Pantry in Ironton.

Clint McElroy, who will also serve as emcee for the performance, and Michael Reeves will be featured vocal soloists. Both are Ironton High School graduates. McElroy is a local radio personality who serves as co-host of WTCR’s morning radio show.

He is also an actor and director in local theater productions as well as a writer, singer, comic book illustrator and serves as an adjunct professor in Marshall University’s School of Theater. Michael Reeves is employed at King’s Daughters Medical Center and sings for many local churches. He will accompany the Ironton High School Varsity Singers in the finale, “God Bless Us Everyone.”

In addition to the vocal soloists, the Ironton High School Brass Quintet and Flute Trio, both directed by Jeff Sanders, will perform special holiday music. The Ironton Varsity Singers and Ohio University Southern Community Band will perform several selections together and separately.

Ironton High School’s Varsity Singers, directed by Kathy Price, and the Ohio University Southern Community Band, directed by Dr. Pat McCoy, will perform four selections together. “Bells of Joy” and “Sing Along with Santa” features medleys of popular Christmas carols. “Pacem Noel” combines the famous canon, “Dona Nobis Pacem” with “The First Noel.” The finale, which features vocal soloist Michael Reeves, is “God Bless Us Everyone,” taken from Disney’s “A Christmas Carol.”

The Ironton Varsity Singers is made up of upperclassmen. Students learn to part-sing medium-to-difficult musical selections and study music theory, music appreciation and the art of performance in order to prepare for a repertoire of various styles of music for performance in the school and community.

Varsity Singers is a blend of a class, extracurricular activity and public relations tool for the school.

Dr. Pat McCoy, is a senior lecturer in fine arts at Ohio University Southern, where he also serves as program adviser for the associate of arts and humanities degree (arts emphasis) and Community Concert Series coordinator.

The community band was founded in 1998 by Dr. McCoy and is comprised of approximately 20 members from throughout the Tri-State, including OUS students, high school students and community members who play a variety of wind, brass and percussion instruments.

The repertoire represents a variety of genres and styles including military music, jazz, ragtime, blues, marches and theme music from movies and musicals.

They also have themed programs including a pops music program, a Christmas music program, an Irish music program and a Civil War music program.

The band performs several times a year on and off campus. Their on-campus performances include the annual scholarship recognition ceremony reception and fall and spring concerts.

They regularly perform off campus for the Ironton and Ashland Christmas parades, the Ironton Memorial Day parade, Navy Night during Ironton Memorial Day parade weekend, the annual Bobcat Invasion at the Ashland Town Center Mall in December, the Ironton Briggs Library and several health care centers.