Guest conductor to lead Adrian Symphony Orchestra in holiday pops concert

ADRIAN — One of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra’s longest-running traditions, its holiday pops concert, returns this weekend with an evening of holiday favorites performed by the ASO, local soloists, and two area school choral groups.

The concert, “Ho-Ho-Holidays,” is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at Adrian College’s Dawson Auditorium. Tickets are $37/$31/$23 for adults, $35/$29/$23 for senior citizens, and $19/$16/$12 for students and are available by calling the ASO at 517-264-3121, online at adriansymphony.org or at the door beginning two hours before the performance.

A cash bar opens at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby.

Steven Jarvi, music director of the Dearborn Symphony and principal pops conductor of the Toledo Symphony, is the concert’s guest conductor. He and ASO Music Director Bruce Anthony Kiesling know each other from their graduate-school days at the University of Michigan, and some of the Adrian Symphony musicians have worked with Jarvi as well.

“I know the orchestra will be in good hands,” Kiesling said.

Kiesling won’t be on the ASO podium for this concert himself because he’ll be away conducting the San Diego Symphony Orchestra with the group The Airborne Toxic Event. It’s the first time in his tenure with the ASO that the orchestra has had a guest conductor, and to him it’s a good experience for both an orchestra and its audience.

“It’s great for our audience to see a different person on the podium, and it’s good for the orchestra, so it’s a win-win,” he said. “And Steve’s a wonderful musician.”

Saturday’s vocal guests include soloists LaVonte Heard and Jonathon LaBelle and, in keeping with the orchestra’s tradition of including local choirs in its Christmas concert, the Adrian High School Balladiers directed by Steve Antalek and the Clinton Youth Honors Choir directed by Joyce Collins.

Heard returns for a second holiday-pops performance with the ASO after wowing the audience last year.

“He sang two songs with us last year, and he blew the roof off the building,” Kiesling said. “You just felt you were in the presence of something special. So I told Steve we had to have him back.”

This year, Heard sings “Who Would Imagine A King,” from the 1996 Whitney Houston-Denzel Washington movie “The Preacher’s Wife,” and a new arrangement of “O Holy Night.” Both arrangements were commissioned by the orchestra.

LaBelle joins the ASO for “Holly Jolly Christmas,” while the Balladiers will perform two a cappella pieces and lead the audience in a Christmas carol sing-along. The Clinton students will sing “My Christmas Tree” from the movie “Home Alone 2.”

As for the orchestral works on Saturday’s program, they include two Leroy Anderson pieces: his Christmas-carol medley “A Christmas Festival” and “Sleigh Ride” — a work which seems to be a favorite not only for audiences.

“I’ve had musicians say, ‘It’s not Christmas until I play ‘Sleigh Ride,’” Kiesling said, laughing.

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The ASO will also perform Robert Wendel’s “Overture to a Merry Christmas” from “A Classical Christmas Suite,” several selections from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” and Alan Silvestri’s concert suite of music from the movie “The Polar Express.”

“It’s a healthy selection of great classics,” Kiesling said. “We always want this program to be a little bit of nostalgia and a little bit of new, and it showcases our fantastic musicians of course.”

The performance is designed to last under 90 minutes with no intermission. Kiesling said the shorter length makes this annual ASO tradition an ideal way for families to take a break from all the holiday-season busy-ness.

“People want to have a moment to de-stress, be with family and friends, and hear some familiar tunes,” he said.

If you go

WHAT: “Ho-Ho-Holidays” Adrian Symphony Orchestra pops concert

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9

WHERE: Dawson Auditorium, Adrian College

TICKETS: $37/$31/$23 adults, $35/$29/$23 senior citizens, $19/$16/$12 students

HOW TO ORDER: By calling 517-264-3121, online at adriansymphony.org or at the door beginning two hours before the performance

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Guest conductor to lead Adrian Symphony Orchestra in holiday concert