Carols, concerts and community. Our nation has a rich history of musical celebrations during the holiday season. While music entertains it also preserves traditions that have been passed down for generations.
From singing Christmas carols to lighting the seven-branched candleholder kinara for Kwanzaa or the eight-candle menorah for Hanukkah, our holidays are accompanied by songs and melodies that bring people together.
Each year familiar tunes fill the air waves heralding warmth, joy and togetherness. And performing artists of every kind have their “holiday production.”
Sing in the Holiday with the Symphony
Bay Atlantic Symphony’s highly anticipated annual holiday concert goes back many years. “Sing in the Holidays; Classic Favorites and Some New Treats” is a celebration of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa music.
The Concert program features Soprano Natalia Conte, performances by a children’s choir and the ever-popular post-Concert sing-along on stage at the piano with Symphony Maestro Jed Gaylin.
Dating as far back as the 18th century, the rise of holiday concerts reflected a public desire for entertainment and community connection. Over the centuries, these traditions have evolved into an annual showcase of cultural heritage and cherished holiday customs.
Works such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and George Handel’s Messiah helped establish a musical wonderland during the holiday season, shaping the familiar soundscape that orchestras and audiences still cherish today.
Radio City Rockettes are 100
As classical music traditions endured, so did other forms of holiday entertainment. Most famously, the Radio City Rockettes, celebrating their 100th Anniversary Christmas Spectacular season this year.
Similarly, Bay Atlantic Symphony carries its holiday concert legacy forward, pairing timeless orchestral works with engaging performances that celebrate joy, tradition and community connection.
From classical masterpieces to spectacular dance shows, holiday traditions continue to unite audiences through a shared love of music and a yearning for tradition and nostalgia at this special time of year.
Holiday Concert Facts:
· Holiday concerts have a rich history rooted in early Christian Celebrations.
· Early holiday music was primarily sacred.
· The Renaissance period marked a shift from sacred chants to more complex music sung in local languages.
· A tradition of Christmas carols made holiday music more accessible to the public.
· The 19th and 20th centuries saw the rise of holiday concerts as public events, coinciding with new concert halls and radio and TV broadcasting.
· The first known Christmas hymns became part of services in fourth century Rome; in the 12th century a Parisian monk began to add Christmas-related lyrics to popular songs, creating the earliest carols.
· As with Christmas songs, Hanukkah songs originate from a wide time period; some date back more than two thousand years.
· Since 1925, first known as the Missouri Rockets, this iconic dance troupe has been kicking up its heels, officially becoming the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes in 1934.
Performance Information:
Saturday, December 13 at 3 p.m. at Guaracini Performing Arts Center
(Rowan University Cumberland Campus) 3322 College Dr., Vineland.
Sunday, December 14 at 2 p.m. at Stockton University’s Performing Arts Center, 101 Vera King Farris Dr., Galloway.
To purchase tickets: Bay Atlantic Symphony
