Legendary group makes stop in OC to kick off holiday season
By Brooklynn Wong
The best-selling Christmas act of all time made a stop in Orange County for one night only recently for a night of merry-making. Not Mariah Carey, not Pentatonix, not Trans Siberian Orchestra, but beloved Christmas rock and rollers Mannheim Steamroller.
The group’s original Christmas album came out in 1984, and the world of contemporary Christmas music has never been the same. Creator Chip Davis, an Omaha-based composer and producer, has made a career of making music that combines classical and rock year-round, but the group he has formed is far and away best known for its Christmas albums and tours.
The group is going all out this Christmas season with their 35th anniversary tour, and that included a stop at Orange County’s art and culture headquarters, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, on December 1.
It was everything you’d expect from a Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert—hard-hitting rock combined with lovely, soft takes on the classics, and multimedia elements that enhanced it all. The group is composed of six musicians, backed up by the roughly dozen-member Mannheim Steamroller Symphony Orchestra. It was a treat for nearly all the senses, including a projector screen behind them showing, at different times, peaceful snowy scenes, a dance piece choreographed to one of the songs, and a Renaissance-style Christmas party. A choreographed light show amplified the music, and snow even fell from the rafters at one point, and after it had had a minute to waft around the theater, white light shone just so, highlighting the tiny diamond-like particles everywhere.
If you grew up in the ‘90s like me, Mannheim Steamroller’s music was the highlight of the local radio station’s Christmas programming, and seeing the group in person, the nostalgia and spectacle of it all was enough to evoke an emotional reaction.
The group performed some of its greatest hits, like “Carol of the Bells” and “Deck the Halls,” but devoted nearly the entire second half of the show to the Madrigal, Renaissance-style carols, which added nuance and are a nod to where most of our modern-day carols originated, but perhaps left the audience wanting more of the loud, flashy numbers that Mannheim Steamroller is so beloved for.
Nevertheless, it was quite the experience and a great way to kick off the Christmas season, and displayed the artistry and excitement that has made Mannheim Steamroller so popular, and will keep them in the Great American Christmas Songbook for years to come.
