Happy Holidays with the Boston Pops Coming December 19

One of New England’s favorite Christmastime traditions, the Holiday Pops season, at festively-decorated Symphony Hall features the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Festival Chorus, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, performing beloved classics.

Distributed by American Public Television, “Happy Holidays with the Boston Pops,” is slated to air on OETA Monday, December 19 at 9 p.m. The one-hour special showcases the best of the holiday concerts from Symphony Hall including “Christmas Canticles,” a medley of Christmas carols and melodies. The Pops and Tanglewood Festival Chorus will perform the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah. America

The show features baritone Justin Hopkins and country superstar Sara Evans performing tunes from her 2014 Holiday CD “At Christmas”. The annual reading with orchestra of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” is to be presented by Mad Men star, Robert Morse, famous for the 1967 film adaptation of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying .

After a visit from the one-and-only Santa Claus, the entire Holiday Pops audience will be welcomed to join in A Merry Little Sing-Along including “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,”“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,”“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” and “Winter Wonderland.” Of course, no Holiday Pops concert would be complete without the orchestra’s signature rendition of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, a piece written expressly for the Boston Pops, and regularly ranked the most popular Christmas tune of all time.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HOLIDAY POPS
Founded in 1885, the Boston Pops has been presenting its special series of holiday concerts since 1973; they began under the leadership of Arthur Fiedler with a three-concert series at Symphony Hall.  Since that time, public demand for the performances has continued to grow and the season has expanded to include well over 30 performances each holiday season, though many of the concerts continue to sell out each year. The Holiday Pops season takes place in the special atmosphere of world famous Symphony Hall—specially decorated to evoke all the magic and charm of the season—where Pops patrons sit at cabaret-style tables and order food and drink with family and friends, all while taking in the music and entertainment presented by the one and only Boston Pops.  In 1978, the orchestra began a new Christmastime tradition of bringing its unique Holiday Pops concerts to venues throughout New England and the Northeast.

For more information about the Boston Pops, please visit www.bostonpops.org.