Santa Fe Symphony is bringing the 'Sounds of the Season' to life

The Santa Fe Symphony is gearing up for holiday pops and winter favorites with “Sounds of the Season” at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Dec. 10.

The program opens with selections from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic “Nutcracker Suite,” including his famous “Waltz of the Flowers.”

“It strongly evokes peoples’ childhoods,” said Emma Scherer, Santa Fe Symphony executive director.

Along with the expected “Sleigh Ride” and “White Christmas,” the orchestra will perform the final act of Camille Saint-Saëns’ French opera “Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale” with the Santa Fe Youth Symphony.

“We like to think of our youth symphony as our future players,” Scherer said.

Before the concert, members of the youth symphony will play an informal chamber recital.

“It’s going to be a real showcase for the youth symphony musicians,” Scherer added.

Toby Vigneau, the symphony’s inaugural concerto competition winner, will play Giovanni Bottesini’s “Double Bass Concerto in B Minor.”

“We had a concerto competition last spring, and the winner will play with the orchestra,” Scherer said. “Toby Vigneau is at Curtis (Institute of Music).”

The Montreal Symphony recently named him an associate principal bassist, Scherer added.

Music director Guillermo Figueroa has added James Stephenson’s jazz-inflected “A Charleston Christmas” to the lineup, as well as the “Hanukkah Festival Overture.” Guest conductor Laurie Rossi will lead the players through Spanish composer/conductor Geronimo Gimenez’s “La Boda de Luis Alonso.” Gimenez has penned zarzuelas, symphonic music and chamber music.

“Every year we look at this program,” Scherer said. “We like to include the new and the old.”

Organizers recently changed the concert’s name from “Christmas Treasures” to “Sounds of the Season.”

“That was very deliberate,” Scherer said. “We wanted it to be accessible to everyone who celebrates the holidays.”