The Las Vegas Phil & Friends Rocked The Smith!

The Las Vegas Philharmonic blew the roof off Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts this past weekend for their Pops II concert A Very Vegas Holiday. There are no other words to describe their holiday concert but to simply state it was flawless. With a repertoire that included some of the timeless classics of the holiday, including a beautiful collection of new songs, the concert could have gone on for several more hours and no one would have even noticed. The two hour concert went off without a hitch and with Maestro Robert Bernhardt, guest conductor at the helm we were treated to a warm welcome with lots of funny moments that would have made any local comedy club jealous for the attention.

The audience was treated to a full orchestra that included the Las Vegas Masters Singers, Grant Sawyer Middle School Advanced Girls Choir, and a special treat from the Foothill High School Drum Line. Not to mention the Dave Loeb Jazz Quartet that gave the performance that Vegas touch. But the Pièce de résistance was by far Niki Scalera and Travis Cloer who completed the circle. These two performers shot it to the moon and back and had the audience in absolute awe of their vocal talents. The evening was capped off by cameo appearances by Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and her husband former Mayor Oscar Goodman who read the timeless classic The Night Before Christmas.

No matter what your religious proclivities may be this concert reminded me that the Holidays are an important time of the year for our culture because it brings family, friends and strangers together to celebrate with a few fabulous songs and lots of cheers.

Happy Holiday's Everyone and BRAVO to the Las Vegas Philharmonic!!!

Happy Hanukkah

Merry Christmas

Happy Kwanzaa

& Everyone Else too!

Brian Paco Alvarez enculturating Las Vegas into the millennium...