About the pieces

The winter Holidays are a celebration of a plethora of days that signify importance. Just to name a few: Christmas a Christian celebration (December 24th-25th), Hanukkah a Jewish 8-night celebration (December 7th-15th), Diwali has a Hindu origin and is expressed in the Festival of Lights (November 12th), Kwanzaa celebrating African cultural heritage and traditional communal values (December 26th-January 1st),  Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead) which is a Mexican holiday (November 1-2nd) to celebrate loved ones who passed away, of course New Year’s Eve (December 31st)-- and the list goes on.

And why not celebrate them all with music? Our program will include the Nutcracker, originally a play that is set on Christmas eve, transformed in a Jewish Klezmer harmonies and rhythms written by Steve Cohen.

The Holidays symbolize the time of hope and dreams. Golka’s piece is about Wilbur, a pig with the dream to dance. In this musical story Wilbur embarks on a journey to master the elegance of the Waltz, but is he able to succeed? You can be the judge of this when you hear this performance. Wilbur is depicted by the contrabassoon, a very low instrument that can make sounds like the snorts of a pig. The world Premiere of this piece was by our own Riverside Philharmonic December 4th, 2021.   

The Holidays are also a time of joy; and how else to feel happy other than a Polka! The word Polka comes from Czech word “půlka” which means half, referring to half tempo, or in other words: a very fast piece of music. Johann Strauss’ adrenaline packed Polka will get your wiggle on!  

The Holiday excitement is not complete without the “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers”, by Leon Jessel in 1987. You may know it, because the Rockettes marched to this tune every year since 1933 in their Radio City Christmas Spectacular.  

These and many more classics will be part of this program. Don’t miss this spectacle, and get your tickets today!

About the tickets

This concert will have open seating.