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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Symphony gets into the spirit with Holiday Pops

Celebration features guest vocalist Crawford

Crawford

There’s something about a symphony that perfectly captures the feelings of Christmas, about orchestral music that seems to warm you up as the winter weather blusters outside. Led by conductor Morihiko Nakahara, the Spokane Symphony cozies up with its annual Holiday Pops performance, a collection of holiday tunes new and old, this weekend.

Like every other annual yuletide entertainment, the Holiday Pops walks the line between keeping their material familiar and surprising the audience. As in years past, the evening’s program is a mix of the expected and the unconventional, featuring as many songs that everyone knows as pieces you may have never heard before.

You can expect the audience sing-along, the requisite appearance by Santa himself and such recognizable musical selections as Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” and William Goldman’s symphonic interpretation of “ ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.” And it wouldn’t be the Christmas season without at least one passing reference to the 1946 Frank Capra classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which the orchestra will fulfill with a suite featuring passages from Dimitri Tiomkin’s musical score.

But there are slightly more unconventional selections, too, including “God Bless Us Everyone,” an Alan Silvestri tune originally performed by Andrea Bocelli for the 2009 animated version of “A Christmas Carol,” and the “Regina Coeli” prayer from 19th-century Italian opera “Cavalleria Rusticana.”

Featuring guest vocalist Abbey Crawford, as well as the angelic Symphony Chorale and appearances by area youth choirs, this year’s program combines the fanciful and spirited with the angelic and meditative. With less than a week until Christmas, Holiday Pops aims to put even the stodgiest Scrooge in the yuletide spirit.