I’ve always had a love for attending artistic performances, and as a cellist myself, I especially love symphonies. I had the pleasure of attending the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s holiday performance on December 13th, and I really had an amazing time. Sometimes in Tucson, it can be difficult to get into the Christmas spirit with how warm it can be, but this show helped to change that for me, and it reminded me of being back home in Washington.
The show began with the beautiful grand entrance of “Polanaise” from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve Suite. It was the perfect piece to open with, and it set up a festive tone for the rest of the show, while highlighting who the backbone of the show was: the symphony itself. I found that this part of the show really showed the audience the true power of these musicians, and you could tell they put in the work for this performance.
Following the opening piece, the symphony was joined by guest vocalist Katherine Byrnes to sing two classic holiday tunes. The first of the two was Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which I found settled the mood and gave the audience that true, warm feeling that the holidays bring. I myself had never heard Byrnes sing before, but she had some fans in the audience, and now I understand why. Her voice was smooth, stunning, and perfectly complemented the symphony when she was singing (also, the dress she was wearing was gorgeous, and I need to know where she got it). This being said, after the first song, I obviously couldn’t wait for the second, which was The Christmas Song. Once again, this was another slow and warm song, and it reminded me of home, which is really what the holidays are all about to me.
For the next song, Byrnes left the stage, and the symphony played the most quintessential large ensemble song, Sleigh Ride. I always love it when performers try to make this song a little silly, because that is the true nature of it, and that’s exactly what they did. Conductor José Luis Gomez began the piece as normal, and then a member of the ensemble took his baton and comically conducted his fellow musicians himself. As he conducted, Gomez made his way towards the back, obviously, towards the slapsticks. You truly can’t have a Sleigh Ride performance without a little messing around with the slapsticks. For the remainder of the song, Gomez stayed in the back with the other percussionist and played alongside him, until the very end of the song, where he snuck behind the guest conductor to slap one last time right behind him (I wish I got a better picture of this, but the one I put below was too funny not to include). The whole time, you could hear the audience laughing along, and you could tell that everyone was really enjoying themselves, including me.
The last song before intermission was a rendition of the Nutcracker suite, originally by Tchaikovsky, arranged by Duke Ellington, which is a rendition I had never heard before. It was a much more jazzy version of the beloved songs that everyone knows, and I really loved it. For this piece, the orchestra was not alone, as a few students from the University of Arizona’s dance program joined. They told us a short story (through dance) about a family Christmas with many different characters making appearances, including the Grinch. This piece included 5 movements, and each one was a new part of the dancers’ story. I thought their interpretations of the music were really fun, and while I was standing to take pictures of the performers, I was right next to a little girl who was dancing around as well, so I think they definitely nailed their performance.
After a nice, short break, the symphony got right back to it, starting with a song titled Troika written by Sergei Prokofiev from the Lieutenant Kijé Suite. This is a russian tune that isn’t necessarily about Christmas, but about a horse-drawn sleigh, which many often associate with Christmas time. I had never heard this piece before, but I really enjoyed it, and I felt as though it truly felt like the holidays with the sleigh bells trailing along in the background. Then, Byrnes returned for the next song with a beautiful rendition of White Christmas. This has always been one of my favorite Christmas songs, and you could hear people faintly singing along, so it was truly beautiful.
For the final stretch of the concert, the symphony was joined by Orkesta Mendoza, consisting of multiple talented musicians. While they were on stage, the ensemble played four songs: Las Calles de Tucson, La Caminadora, Cumbia Volcadora, and Hear the Bells. This group was asked pretty last-minute to fill in for the previous act, Calexico, that had to step out for personal reasons, and they really gave it their all. Orkesta Mendoza brought a true Tucson feel to the holiday spirit with Latin instrumentation and vocals in Spanish, and I truly enjoyed every second of it. The third song was my favorite of the four because it just made me want to start dancing. You could hear people in the crowd clapping along, and others were dancing in their seats. It was such a fun time, and you could even tell how much fun the performers themselves were having.
This concert really pushed me to get into the Christmas mood, and I am very thankful to the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and Bruce for allowing me to attend and take pictures of the performers. I had a really great time, and all of the musicians and dancers who performed were extremely talented. I plan to be back at one of their performances very soon, and if you’ve never seen the symphony live, I highly recommend you do!
