A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY

Join award winning Broadway singer and recording artist Emily Drennan on A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY this holiday season. As it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas outside, it begins to feel a lot like Christmas inside. With optional selections to feature a chorus and/or local dance ensemble, Emily, who is joined by her mother Patti Drennan, takes you on a journey through the first snow flakes and Christmas lists, through Santa's arrival and being home for Christmas. From a Bing Crosby medley to sacred favorites such as O Holy Night and Mary, Did You Know?, this show is the perfect balance between old and new. This Christmas season: sit back, relax and enjoy the journey. This dynamic duo also released A Mother Daughter Christmas album which won the IMEA Holiday Album of the Year. It features selections from A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY. A hybrid version of this show is also available to suit your traditions.

Originally from Oklahoma, EMILY DRENNAN has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall. She was seen in the New York Spectacular starring the Rockettes at Radio City and was seen touring Europe and the Caribbean playing Tanya in Mamma Mia! She was also seen as “Mezzo” in the Lucille Lortel Award winning a cappella Off-Broadway show, Voca People, and in its Israel, Japan, and Dubai tours as well as on The Jimmy Fallon Show and with Sting. Emily has also been seen in: NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice; The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (soloist: NBC, PBS, Netflix); and Toxic Audio Off-Broadway winning the Drama Desk Award and was also in its Las Vegas companies at The Luxor and Planet Hollywood.

She has shared the stage as a guest soloist with symphonies over a hundred times and with 25 different orchestras including with: The Cleveland Orchestra; The Dallas Symphony; The Detroit Symphony; The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; The Rochester Philharmonic; The Pittsburgh Symphony; The OKC Philharmonic; The Buffalo Philharmonic; The Hartford Symphony; Long Beach Symphony; Greensboro Symphony; The Colorado Springs Philharmonic; Evansville Philharmonic; The Portland Symphony; The Florida Orchestra; Dayton Philharmonic; South Bend Symphony; Orchestra of Kentucky; North Carolina Symphony; Fort Worth Symphony; Austin Symphony; Jacksonville Symphony; Harrisburg Symphony; Tulsa Signature Symphony; Hendersonville Symphony; Winston-Salem Symphony and Muncie Symphony among others. As a National Presidential Scholar in the Arts, she was celebrated at the White House culminating with a performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Emily is a published ASCAP and Recording Academy (GRAMMY) songwriter, producer, lyricist, composer, and recording artist with 2 Degrees (Economics; Spanish) and 4 minors (Finance; Marketing; International Business and Latin American Studies), summa cum laude, from Oklahoma State University. She was named an OSU Outstanding Alumna for the Spears College of Business and an OSU Distinguished Alumna for the College of Arts & Sciences. Her voice-over and studio work can be heard nationally in English and Spanish.

Her double-disc debut album, Two-Way Street, encompasses pop and jazz and tells of both sides of ones’ heart: the white album full of hope, love and belief and the black album full of honesty, heartbreak and resilience. Her second album, A Mother Daughter Christmas, features her mother, Patti Drennan, who is a well-known composer having sold over 3 million copies of her sacred and secular music. A family affair, it combines heartfelt and nostalgic classics complete with orchestral arrangements as well as funky gospel tunes featuring Hammond b3 organ and gospel choirs. It won the IMEA Holiday Album of the Year. Emily’s latest single release, I Know Your Name, is a stunning tribute to her father who was tragically killed in 2022. For her work creating this song, she has won the Hollywood Independent Music Award for Best Singer-Songwriter. a Global Music Silver Award and LIT Gold Award and was nominated as a Semi-Finalist in Performance for the International Songwriting Competition. She is a Co-Producer and the Chorus Master for the forthcoming Echoes of Grace: Choral Music of Patti Drennan album which releases August 9th, 2024. Emily’s full discography, including singles O Holy Night, Make You Feel My Love, See the Light and We Three Kings / What Child is This? are on iTunes and can be found on her official website: www.emilydrennan.com

She is also a NYC Marathon finisher and Price is Right winner. Her favorite roles are wife to her husband, Greg, and mother to their 5-year-old and 3-year-old sons. Forever for Dad.

PATTI DRENNAN is a distinguished songwriter and performer who has an innate ability to create both reflective and powerful music in all genres that is challenging yet accessible.

An active composer and arranger with sales of almost 3 million copies, Patti has over 850 choral octavos published with 10 major publishers. She has served as a regular clinician for choral and composer workshops domestically and internationally and has been a featured speaker at the Texas Music Educators Convention on multiple occasions. She has been an adjudicator for choral contests in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. Her music has been performed numerous times at regional and national American Choral Director’s Association Conventions. Her work has also been regularly performed at Carnegie Hall.

Her first album, Shelter in the Time of Storm, is a compilation of favorite hymns and original compositions. It has edgy arrangements, funky gospel tunes, and inspiring pieces as well as fresh harmonies and exciting vocals. Her second album, A Mother Daughter Christmas, was recorded and released with her daughter, Emily Drennan. It won the IMEA Holiday Album of the Year and featured brass and string arrangements, Hammond B3 organ, a gospel choir and more.

Patti’s 3rd album, Echoes of Grace, is forthcoming this August 9th, 2024. It focuses on her classical roots and it features her choral works as performed by the Sterling Ensemble Los Angeles, under the direction of Michelle Jensen. She and her daughter, Emily, who served as Chorus Master for the project, envisioned an album that encapsulated both sacred and secular works, as that is most indicative of her compositional style as well as indicative of the choral music genre. There is often an intertwining of text, themes and harmonies in choral music which are conducive to both the sacred and secular realm. The title, Echoes of Grace, is exactly that. It suggests an exploration of an overarching theme of grace – both sacred and secular- grace given to us, grace we can give each other and grace we can extend to ourselves. Upon release of this album, more information about the incredible team who worked on this album will be released.

In addition to her recorded work, Patti has 20+ published piano books which include: The Angels Sing for 4-hand piano; Sacrifice and Victory; Proclaim Messiah’s Birth; The Prince of Glory – Piano hymns for Holy Week; The Church Pianist’s Library; Faith, Hope and Love; Sacred Treasures for Piano; Celebrate the Newborn King; High King of Heaven; and Shelter in the Time of Storm among others. Her new choral resource book Rebuild and Renew is now available nationwide.

She earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Music Education degree at the University of Oklahoma. She taught Choral Music for 28 years in the Norman Public School system. The first 20 years were at West Mid-High School where she was voted Teacher of the Year and the latter 8 years were at Norman High School. There, she directed four choirs consistently receiving Superior (1st place) ratings in District and All-State competitions. She was awarded the coveted Director of Distinction Award given by the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association and also returned to her alma mater as a featured conductor at the new McKnight Center for the Performing Arts. In 2022, she was awarded the Oklahoma State University College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumna Award for the Greenwood School of Music. She has also conducted and performed with the Muncie Symphony, South Bend Symphony and OKC Philharmonic.

A co-director and singer with the Oklahoma Ambassadors Concert Choir, she has been awarded the Maestro Award and most recently the William S. Roche Award for commitment, dedication and excellence.

After teaching for 28 years, Patti “retired” and served as Music and Worship Arts Director at First Baptist Church, Norman for almost 10 years. She “retired” again to focus on live symphony performances with her daughter and to focus on writing, yet found herself again serving as a Worship and Arts Director, this time at North Haven Church, Norman. For her service thus far in Music and Worship Arts, she was the recipient of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Oklahoma Award for Excellence.

Patti is also a Voting Member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMY’S ®) and a Board Member of the Norman Arts Council and the Oklahoma Ambassadors Concert Choir.

Patti was married to her high school sweetheart of 54 years, Jim Drennan, until a tragic accident in 2022. With grace and poise, she has continued to make powerful and poignant music amidst unimaginably difficult circumstances. She has two grown children: Emily, a soloist with symphonies across the country, recording artist and Broadway/Off-Broadway actress in New York City, and Adam, a Senior Software Engineer for Hulu. She also has a son-in-law and two adorable grandsons. Learn more at www.pattidrennan.com

A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY

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