Review: MANHEIM STEAMROLLER CHRISTMAS at The Music Center At Strathmore

The holiday season is now in full swing and amidst all the “God bless us all” and Sugar Plums is a seasonal perennial that has been kicking holiday music up a notch for over 40 years now. I’m speaking of Chip Davis’ Manheim Steamroller of course and with twelve albums of Christmas music alone, it’s easy to see why they are still the number one Christmas tour each year.

The six member ensemble made a tour stop at the Music Center at Strathmore the day after Thanksgiving and put the audience in the holiday spirit from the first notes of “Aire on a G String” onward. As this current tour also marks the 50th anniversary of Manheim Stemroller’s Fresh Aire, there were also some non- holiday pieces sprinkled within the program.

Here we have a concert where everything could have been a favorite piece to talk about but that would make the review read like a book report which is not what we are going for. After thinking about it, I’ve narrowed it down to a few highlights in a program where everything was a highlight.

But before I do, Now is a good a time as any to mention the members of Manheim Steamroller’s Christmas Red Tour. There is also a Green tour out on the West Coast.

Here we had Mark Angor (Conductor/Violin), Logan Mitchell (Percussion/Recorder and more), Tom Sharp (Drums/Percussion), Christopher Forte (Guitar/Bass), Anna Lackaff (Keyboards), and Jackson Tower (Harpsichord/Keyboard). Each player possessed a truly high standard of musicianship while also having a great time with the music.

It should also be pointed out that you hardly if ever see a percussionist like Mitchell that can double on multiple reed instruments. That alone made his playing even more impressive. Lackaff and Tower's fine keyboard work was also featured throughout with a duet and solos as well.

My first musical stand out was easily a piece from the Manheim Steamroller Christmas album entitled “Traditions of Christmas”. This is an original song written by Manheim Steamroller founder Chip Davis (credited as Louis Davis Jr.). It captured the season perfectly. It also featured one member of the nine piece (six strings, oboe, trumpet, and horn) local orchestra backing the main ensemble of players. Oboist Amelia Merriman started the piece off with a gorgeous solo that set the tone for the whole composition. What’s even more amazing is that the local players had only one TWO HOUR rehearsal with the ensemble before the concert. You could have fooled me because they sounded like they had been touring for a while. Everyone sounded that good.

Another piece that really knocked it out of the park for me was another original composition by Davis from the Fresh Aire VI album entitled “Come Home to the Sea”. It was another example of the ensemble working perfectly with he orchestra for an unforgettable moment.

On the traditional holiday side of things, Manheim Steamroller’s versions of “Do You Hear What I Hear” and “Carol of the Bells” are two things that you simply can’t go wrong with Now put an added bonus of lights timed precisely to the “Carol of the Bells” as executed perfectly by either (not sure which) the tour’s lighting director Adam Zastrow or lighting technician Chris Tsuji. The work of a fine board op in those kinds of situations where timing is a must is something that should be noticed more.

With Manheim Steam Roller’s distinct musical sound such holiday classics like “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Little Drummer Boy” and others sounded as fresh as ever.

It’s hard to describe exactly what genre of music Manheim Steamroller falls into because it encompasses so many. What is clear is that Manheim Steamroller Christmas started the 2025 holiday season off with a great big “Hallelujah”!

Running Time: Two Hours and ten minutes with one intermission.

Manheim Steamroller Christmas was a one performance engagement on November 28th, 2025 at the Music Center at Strathmore.