The holiday season would be dull without its lush musical backdrop, and one of the many wonderful things about living in Music City is having myriad live holiday music outings to make your family’s celebration merrier. Nashville Symphony kicks off the beginning of December with one of the hot holiday tickets in town this season with its A Very Merry Pops concert Dec. 1 – 3.
World-renowned conductor Jeff Tyzik will lead the Nashville Symphony in a night of holiday songs like “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “The Night Before Christmas,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” “White Christmas,” “Let it Snow,” “Sleigh Ride” and several more.
Doug LaBrecque
Joining the Nashville Symphony to celebrate the songs of the season are two dynamic vocal powerhouses hailing from Broadway: Lisa Vroman (The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Les Miserables) and Doug LaBrecque, who’s enjoyed success in the Hal Prince production of The Phantom of the Opera along with Prince’s revival of Showboat on the Great White Way. He’s toured extensively on the theater circuit and has starred in many regional theater productions. LaBrecque’s also carved out an impressive career as a touring concert performer, traveling across the globe to sing with orchestras including The Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Jerusalem Symphony, the New York Pops, the Boston Pops and many others.
LaBrecque’s no stranger to Music City, either. “I’ve been with the Nashville Symphony before, and I really love the Schermerhorn. It’s a world-class hall that’s celebrated throughout the world,” he says. “I’m looking forward to the holiday concert. I really like Lisa Vroman, who is a world-class crossover artist, and the conductor, Jeff Tyzik, is a long-term collaborator of mine. He’s one of the premier orchestrators and pops conductors in America, so this will be exciting for me to get to be in such a great music town like Nashville where there is a such a hugely qualified talent pool of musicians. Hearing this kind of holiday music played by an orchestra of that caliber takes it to a much higher level than what people are hearing ad nauseum at the mall or playing at home,” he adds.
Despite the singers’ Broadway backgrounds, LaBrecque says this experience will be strictly holiday music and it will encompass mainstream favorites along with selections representing the faith-based perspective of the season. “I think the joy of a holiday concert is finding that balance of secular and sacred,” says LaBrecque. “There are incredibly faith-based audience members who will ride high and love the sacred music, and there are people who might not be as religious, but Christmas represents something so special with family and the traditions of our country that even if you sing what might seem like a silly secular song, people are going to have warm associations with that,” he adds.
LaBrecque says he and Vroman will sing a few numbers separately along with duets, but it’s the orchestra that’s really going to stand out during the three nights of holiday cheer. “The Nashville Symphony will be featured prominently with a treasure trove of material. I think families will really acknowledge in a whole new way what an amazing orchestra they have, which I think will be really exciting,” he says.
