In the midst of their winter season at Symphony Hall in Boston, the Holiday Pops will make a visit to Manchester to present a show Dec. 11 at the SNHU Arena.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $27 for children age 15 and under and adults are $31.50 and up, based on seating. They can be purchased at snhuarena.com.
Director Keith Lockhart, who is celebrating 25 years with the Boston Pops, shares a little bit about the show with the Monitor, responses lightly edited for clarity.
How does it feel to be performing the Holiday Pops in front of an audience after last year’s virtual season?
As performing artists, we are absolutely thrilled to be playing in front of a live audience again! While a virtual season was a good way to keep in touch with our audience, it in no way substitutes for the thrill, on both sides of the footlights, of making and experiencing music live.
What pieces are part of the program this year?
There are traditions that people have come to expect as part of our Holiday Pops celebration: Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” for example, and our riotously successful version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” But this season will also feature colorful new arrangements of Mexican Christmas carols, a rocking new Gospel-infused medley of spirituals, and our brass section performing a virtuosic salute to Hannukah. All that, plus the music of Duke Ellington and George Frederick Handel makes for a very full, and very fun program.
How do you go about selecting the pieces?
Each year, we try to balance what our audience expects and wants to hear – beautiful, traditional holiday music performed by a world-class orchestra, and sung by a great chorus – with new experiences. I like to think that everyone leaving the concert will think that there was a piece on it that I programmed just for them!
Will there be a narration of ‘The Night Before Christmas’ at the Manchester show? If yes, who will be doing it?
We will have a reading of the timeless “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” one of the very best-known poems in the English language, at the Manchester concert, as we have from our first visit to Manchester! This year, we’re fortunate to feature WMUR’s Erin Fehlau and Sean McDonald as narrators.
Aside from the Holiday Pops, do you have a favorite holiday or winter tradition?
I grew up in upstate New York and have always loved winter (and we got a lot of it). Music has figured into my holiday plans since I was a small child. My kids are becoming very good musicians themselves, and I expect we will be gathered around the piano, singing carols, on Christmas Day!
Is there anything else you’d like audience members to know before the show?
Only this, if you’ve never attended Holiday Pops with the Boston Pops before, you absolutely don’t know what you’re missing! It is a magical evening, and I fully guarantee that you will leave much more in the holiday spirit than you were when you arrived. Come celebrate with us!