The Concord Orchestra performs “The Composer is Dead”, an amusing murder mystery with narration by Lemony Snicket and music by Nathaniel Stookey. Narrator Joyce Kulhawik is the inspector who interviews the instruments in the orchestra, who are all murder suspects.

Each section of the orchestra gets a chance to show off as the inspector questions them. There are many inside jokes about the instruments of the orchestra. For example, we learn that the first violins have the trickier parts to play, but the second violins “are more fun at parties.” The violas complain that everyone forgets about them and that they have to stay late after performances to stack up the chairs.

Narrator Joyce Kulhawik is best known as the Emmy Award-winning Arts and Entertainment Critic for CBS Boston WBZ-TV from 1981-2008. Ms. Kulhawik has covered local and national events from Boston and Broadway to Hollywood and co-hosted movie-review shows with Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin.

Also on the program is the lively Marche Joyeuse by Chabrier. The Westford Academy String Orchestra joins the Concord Orchestra strings for David Diamond’s Rounds for String Orchestra, the composer’s most popular and frequently performed work. The performance concludes with a sing-along of holiday music.