The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra calls their holiday kids program the Jingle Bell Jam and when the BPO played before a full house on December 10 it was indeed a Jingle Bell Jam when the audience joined in on the music with bells.
Conductor Stefan Sanders and the BPO opened the concert with a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells with the sound of bells filling the room.
With the sounds of “Here Comes Santa Claus”, Santa himself did indeed come down the aisle and joined the BPO on the stage.
And who knew? Santa has a great singing voice which he showed off as he performed with the BPO on “Winter Wonderland”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Leit it Snow”, “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch”, and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”.
One of the most popular tunes from “The Nutcracker” Ballet is the “Waltz of the Flowers”. Members of the Royal Academy of Ballet joined the BPO to perform the song. After the Ballet dancers performed, members of the Verve Dance Studios took the stage to perform a modern Hip-Hop inspired version of the piece to “Dance of the Floreadors”.
The BPO also performed music from “Polar Express” and the “Minuetto” from the “Toy Symphony in C Major H11:47” by Josef Hayden. The BPO got a little help from a few young audience members on the piece. The BPO closed out the concert and escorted Santa on his way with a very lively version of “Sleigh Ride” with the Music Hall filled once again with the sound of bells.
While the kid themed concerts are held to only an hour in length to accommodate the shortened sitting still time of children, the afternoon seemed to fly by as the music marched along in a joyous manner.