The holiday season is almost upon us, a time when we can enjoy being together with family and friends, eat and drink too much and reflect on the year that has passed. I\u2019m looking forward to travelling to London and Belfast to be Uncle Courtney for a few weeks. It\u2019s a time with so many traditions, yet there is one element that binds it all together: classical music. Nothing says \u2018Christmas is coming\u2019 quite like hearing the Trepak from \u2018The Nutcracker\u2019 playing in the supermarket for the first time, or catching a fleeting strain of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel\u2019s \u2018Messiah\u2019. Of course, for musicians, it\u2019s not only The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but the busiest. We often joke that in December, Handel pays the rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the first performance of the First Coast \u2018Nutcracker\u2019, the Jacksonville Symphony\u2019s annual collaboration with over 180 young community dancers. This vibrant production of Tchaikovsky\u2019s mouthwatering ballet is a treasure in the Jacksonville artistic calendar, and not to be missed. I will be conducting Handel\u2019s glorious \u2018Messiah\u2019 with the Symphony Chorus and a team of fantastic soloists. And of course, the symphony presents Jacksonville\u2019s favorite holiday tradition, Holiday Pops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me, the essence of Christmas is the music I grew up singing. One of my earliest memories of performing is singing the first verse of the carol \u2018Once in Royal David\u2019s City\u2019. This is traditionally sung by a solo treble (or boy soprano). It can be ferociously difficult to stay in tune by yourself when you\u2019re eight years old, and nothing deflates the spirit like hearing the choir enter in verse two in the right key when you\u2019ve wandered off all alone into the wrong one. Like many Brits, I love to listen to the broadcast of the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols from King\u2019s College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, which begins with this same tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my family\u2019s eagerly anticipated holiday pastimes is rewatching the classic 1990 Macauley Culkin movie, \u2018Home Alone\u2019. Full of Christmas music from \u2018Jingle Bell Rock\u2019 to \u2018I\u2019m Dreaming of a White Christmas\u2019, I\u2019m always struck by how one of the film\u2019s most moving movements is achieved through yet more classical music. Lonely little Kevin wanders into a church, where he hears a choir sing Adolphe Adam\u2019s gorgeous carol, \u2018O Holy Night\u2019. In the movie, as in life, music offers us consolation, joy and hope like nothing else.So whatever your holiday traditions, I wonder if you might take a moment to notice just how much classical music comes your way, and enjoy it for the holiday gift that it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The holiday season is almost upon us, a time when we can enjoy being together with family and friends, eat and drink too much and reflect on the year that has passed. I\u2019m looking forward to travelling to London and Belfast to be Uncle Courtney for a few weeks. It\u2019s a time with so many traditions, yet there is one element that binds it all together: classical music. Nothing says \u2018Christmas is coming\u2019 quite like hearing the Trepak from \u2018The Nutcracker\u2019 playing in the supermarket for the first time, or catching a fleeting strain of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel\u2019s \u2018Messiah\u2019. Of course, for musicians, it\u2019s not only The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but the busiest. We often joke that in December, Handel<\/p>\n