Never had I heard a banjo riff so wicked to start off the festive song and made it work. The second act started with the NSO’s rendition of Jingle Bell Rock. The NSO with Gianandrea Noseda and violinist Akiko Suwanai She planned to use the scrunchy later on in the concert. Time to bring you up again.” And she delivered with another Christmas classic “Winter Wonderland” with a little choreography intermixed. At the end of her performance of “You and I”, she noticed a woman in the audience who had a scrunchie that made some jingle jangle sounds and asked her to come up and give her the scrunchy which the young woman obliged. She noted that “we have bring you up, we have bring you down. Hands down on the best covers I have ever heard of this timeless classic tune. Ingrid’s range on that song was so dynamic that it felt like you were listening to a modern recording of her voice in the 1950’s. A few more songs passed on before we got to hear the Christmas classic, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. It’s a great song with a good hook that you can truly listen to when you need a good pick me up. She pulls out the ukulele and she announced that she recently turned forty-two before going into her classic hit “Be OK”. You can honestly close you eyes and feel & hear the song as it puts you in a good mood to celebrate the holidays on the Hawaiian islands. It was Mele Kalikimaka! Ingrid’s vocals, along with Hannah’s and Allie’s and the NS had taken us back to the classic pool scene. This was great storytelling on Ingrid’s awakening in the sixth grade.
She went to tell the story of seeing the movie in class while in sixth grade and helps paints the scene of the song she is about to perform next. For the next song, Ingrid asked the audience if we see the movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”. The next song they performed is “Let it Snow!” and the combinations of their harmonies and the majestic sounds of the NSO made it grandiose. During the show, Ingrid stated during a break about the concerts she performed at the Kennedy Center this week, “It’s our third and final show and it feels sad that it went be so fast.” She had the perfect voice for a festive concert and it shows throughout the night. Ingrid and company had taken the Christmas classics and made them modern. When you heard, you can truly feel that they have sung from the heart with their sweet, amazing vocals. The tenacious trio started off their first with the timeless classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.
Michaelson is joined by Hannah Winkler (vocals & keyboards) and Allie Moss (guitar & vocals). Next Steven introduced our special guest of the evening, the wonderful Ingrid Michaelson. This was followed up by “I Saw Three Ships” before our special guests arrived. The six-minute medley was so majestic that it was a great start to a wonderful concert. They started the night with which including an oldie but goodie “Deck the Halls” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”.
Tonight’s conductor, Steven Reineke, take the stage as our glorious National Symphony Orchestra takes us on a spectacular Christmas journey for the books. Christmas trees flank the concert hall stage that you could have sworn you wanted to see the rage.
The nearly sold-out crowd full of people of all ages filled their seats as they are getting ready for two hours of Christmas music magic. I covered the third and final concert on Saturday night at the Concert Hall. This wonderful guest is none other than Christmas’s biggest fan, Ingrid Michaelson! Every year, this amazing concert brings a special guest to celebrate this event and this year’s guest is one of the best as she brings not only her hits but songs from her latest Christmas album, Songs for The Season, to entertain the audience. Over the course of two days and three concerts, the venue’s Concert Hall plays host to the National Symphony Orchestra for their annual A Holiday Pops! concerts with Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke. With Christmas being two weeks away, the Kennedy Center wanted to lift out spirits with their most festive concert of the season.