Saturday, December 13, 2025
– 7:30pm –
Durgin Performing Arts Center – Clinton High School
Join the CSO for our annual Holidays with the Symphony program—a surefire family fun evening of seasonal music. This year’s performance includes holiday favorites, new classics, and holiday stories like Big Brass Swingin’ Christmas, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “O Holy Night,” “What Are You doing New Years Eve,” “Sleigh Ride,” a traditional carol sing-along, and a whole lot more! The always fabulous Heather Petruzelli will grace us with her beautiful voice and we might get a drop-in from a very exciting special guest!
Construction projects continue at Clinton High School, and parking and easy access to the auditorium is on the south side of the complex, doors C18 and C19. Maps in the link above.
Keep scrolling for info on our singer, with program notes to follow.
Our concert opens with a 1940’s big band medley composed by our own Silas Huff, followed by Edward Pola and George Wiley’s timeless classic, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. The sentimental hit popularized by Bing Crosby, “ I’ll Be Home for Christmas” reflects the melancholy years of World War II, while the familiar “O Holy Night” traces its roots to a traditional French carol. Excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” suite showcase four of the famous dances, followed by another original composition by Maestro Huff, “The Mouse’s Gift”.
Next is the wistful jazz ballad, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”, but the mood quickly lifts with Coots and Gillespie’s “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” made famous on Eddie Cantor’s radio show. Warm up your voice as everyone is invited to join in a singalong of familiar seasonal songs, while the evening wraps up with the joyful Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride”, jingling all the way!
Sharing his thoughts on his original compositions, Silas Huff comments: “I wrote Big Brass Swingin’ Christmas. I love to listen to classic Christmas carols and American holiday songs from the 1940s, especially the jazzy tunes sung by crooners or performed by big bands, and I’ve often wondered what would Hark the Herald Angels Sing sound like if Felix Mendelssohn composed like Count Basie? What if We Three Kings was a Latin jazz tune? What if Handel lived in Harlem in the 1940s instead of London in the 1740s? This medley contains some of my favorite Christmas carols and anthems in a big band setting.
As I was programming music for a holiday concert in 2018, I searched for something new, heart-warming and family-friendly. I love stories set to music (like The Night Before Christmas), and knowing that my wife Taylor Morris is a children’s writer, the board of directors commissioned a holiday story and accompanying music. The result, The Mouse’s Gift, is a simple and delightful story of Scout the hungry fox and a friendly little mouse named Tucker. The two go off together in search of food, but run into trouble—scary humans, barking dogs and barrelling trucks. Arriving at a concert venue with a reception table full of treats, Tucker gives Scout the best Christmas surprise of all —a beautiful performance of Silent Night.”