Holiday All the Way! • SBSO and Brush Street Add Extra Musical Sparkle to the Yuletide Season

One of the artistic traditions in the Great Lakes Bay always guaranteed to add special sparkle to the Christmas season is the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra’s annual Holiday Pops Concert, which each year always mixes a tasteful blend of classic yuletide favorites with contemporary popular guest artists to offer up a host of musical surprises similar to the thrill one gets untying the red bow on that special present Christmas morning.

This year the SBSO invites you to take your Christmas Spirit to the max when they join beloved local regional pianist, vocalist, and songwriter Michael Brush along with his band Brush Street for a very special holiday pops concert titled Holiday All The Way on Tuesday, December 10^th at 7:30 PM at Saginaw’s beautiful Temple Theatre.  Brush Street will join the SBSO to perform four of Mike’s original Christmas compositions, in addition to cherished holiday classics.

With a stellar line-up at last year’s Holiday Pops that included collaborations with artists Amy Petty, Todd Michael Hall, and Sharrie Williams, SBSO Maestro Fouad Fakhouri admits that serving up so many excellent Christmas showcases over the years can be a daunting task.

“Every year the challenge is not necessarily how to top the former year, but to come up with something to engage the audience and provide them with the holiday music they expect to hear in conjunction with offering them something a little different and unique they won’t have the opportunity to experience anywhere else.”

“Both Mike Brush and Brush Street vocalist Julie Mulady have performed with the SBSO in the past, but this year we’ve orchestrated and arranged four of Mike’s original Christmas songs they will be joining us to perform, and then for the rest of the program we’ll feature popular Christmas favorites, our Singalong, a jazzier take on Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, as well as a work by Bach,” notes Fakhouri.

Two of Brush’s Christmas songs that Brush Street will perform with the SBSO first appeared on his original EP Decembering and consist of Have You a Room and Seasonings, while the other numbers featured will be the beautiful Can You Feel the Glow and Christmas Eve for Two.

“Some of these songs go way back over 20 years ago, but it’s a cool process writing them,” reflects Brush. “When you write lyrics for some of these songs you go, ‘Where did that come from?  For Christmas Eve for Two and Can You Feel the Glow comoser Catherine McMichael has enhanced the orchestral arrangements.   When I first met with her she told me her job would be to make a pillow for me to set my songs to, and one of the nice things working with her is we’re on the same page in terms of how to approach the arrangements.”

“Nathan Bieber Is orchestrating the other two songs and we’re keeping the arrangements the same so the band doesn’t have to relearn the songs,” continues Brush, “so basically both Nathan & Catherine are fleshing everything out - they have all these different instruments to work with and sent me a list of which ones to include, because you don’t want to overkill the song, either.  We’re adding flutes and strings and some cool stuff.”

“Some of my holiday originals have an older sound to them and are written with an introduction, so an artist such as Michael Bublé could easily pick them up, concludes Brush. “I think they’re good songs and could have legs if they got in the right hands.”

‘Holiday All the Way with the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra and Brush Street featuring Michael Brush & Julie Mulady will take place Tuesday, December 10^th at 7:30 PM at Saginaw’s historic showcase The Temple Theater, which is located at 201 N. Washington Ave. in Downtown Saginaw. Tickets run from $15 to $85.00 and can be purchased by visiting saginawbayorchestra.com.