INCLUDES FULL CONCERT VIDEO | Both educational and entertaining, you’ll discover – as the audience did – a trio of “Sleigh Ride” Holiday songs …
-1 Before the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas Concert, the Sunnyside Low Brass Quartet entertain in the foyer, playing Christmas Carol melodies.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Continuing in their 24th season on Sunday afternoon, December 7th, the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra presented their traditional Christmas Concert at the Sunnyside Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
During and after the “pre-concert talk” by conductor Jonathan DeBruyn, the auditorium filled with people eager to hear another program of great music by this outstanding orchestra.
-2 It’s almost a “full house” as this Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra begins.
Before the concert, DeBruyn talked with us about the afternoon’s repertoire – giving East Portland News a preview of the information he’d be sharing with the audience during the program.
Not two, but three ‘Sleigh Rides’ presented
Having seen the afternoon’s printed program in advance, we asked why their program featured two “Sleigh Ride” songs.
DeBruyn smiled, and with a twinkle in his eye, replied, “Actually, it’s three ‘Sleigh Ride’ melodies in a row. ‘Why?’ you might ask. It’s because two “Sleigh Rides” back-to-back in a row is an accident; but three “Sleigh Rides” in a row is a programming concept – and that’s what we’re presenting this afternoon!
“I just thought it was a fun experiment to put three very very different takes on a sleigh ride, by three very different composers, from three different places and times in history, together into one concert.”
Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra conductor Jonathan DeBruyn fills the audience in, on the afternoon’s musical program.
So the concert started with the best-known one: A Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson.
“This is, by far, the most famous of the trio,” DeBruyn agreed. “It’s the classic Christmastime song you’ll hear a million times during the Holidays – featuring sleigh bells; the ‘clop-clop-clop’ of the horse hooves, played with hard mallets on wooden ‘temple blocks’; the crack of the whip; and the horse whinny made by a trumpet player.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Schlittenfahrt (“Sleigh Ride”) was next.
“Our second ‘sleigh ride’ is a much less famous – but penned by a much more famous composer, Mozart,” said DeBruyn. “He wrote this as part of a set of German dances. In this, you’ll hear sleigh bells that are pitched at different notes, and played like a handbell chorus – creating different harmonies. These bells are so rare, we had to rent the them specifically for this piece, because it’s the only song that uses them!”
-4 Jonathan DeBruyn conducts the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra for their Christmas Concert.
The third was from Sergei Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite.
“This ‘sleigh ride’ is in the fourth movement – the ‘troika movement’ – of the suite’s five movements,” DeBruyn shared. “However, this one is a three-horse open sleigh. It also features sleigh bells, as well as a triangle and tambourine, to help flesh out the sound of the sleigh bells.”
As it turned out, the audience loved the concept and showed it with their enthusiastic applause.
The second part of the concert featured L’Arlésienne Suites, Nos. 1 and 2.by Georges Bizet.
“This suite demonstrated features that are distinctive the composers’ work, with melodies that often recall folk music and stirring dance-based rhythms,” DeBruyn pointed out. “We encourage our audience to listen how the themes are introduced by one instrument or section, and then are taken up by the others.”
It’s the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra, in concert.
Why write more about this terrific cultural performance, when you can see and hear it for yourself in this video – produced for the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra by the video crew at Sunnyside Seventh-Day Adventist Church:
February 22: Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra’s Winter Concert
Attend the Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra’s Winter Concert and February, and you’ll understand why the audiences applaud the performances.
Their season of FREE concerts continues with a ‘Pre-concert Talk’ at 3 p.m. by conductor Jonathan DeBruyn about the music to be performed, the composers featured, and behind the scenes notes about our orchestra.
Then, at 4 p.m., DeBruyn will rise to the podium to conduct this great orchestra. This concert includes The Rock by Sergei Rachmanioff; Piano Concerto No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven, with guest artist Maria Garcia; and, Symphony No. 1 by Florence Price. The venue for the concert is the Sunnyside Seventh-Day Adventist Church, at 10501 SE Market Street, 97216. For more information, and, find a link to their live stream of the concert, see their website: CLICK HERE.
© 2025 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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