SOUNDS OF THE SEASON - AND SANTA

Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart may not be the most in-demand person this holiday season, but he’s one of them – just ask his family.

“As my wife, Emiley, explained to two of my sons, then 3 and 5, a few years ago, ‘Dada is very busy at this time of year, just like Santa Claus,’” said Lockhart with a laugh by telephone recently while driving from New Hampshire to Boston with Pops Director of Artistic Planning Dennis Alves and Manager of Artistic Planning and Services Amanda Severin.

With 40 Holiday Pops concerts at Boston’s Symphony Hall, plus eight more on a tour of Massachusetts and the Northeast, Lockhart, the Pops musicians, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus will all be in almost perpetual motion from December 5 through New Year’s Eve.

“There are a lot of Holiday Pops concerts this year – including many three-show days when we have two daytime concerts, including one tailored specifically for children and families, and then an evening show. Those will be long days, for sure, but great fun, too, because the Kids Matinees really get the energy up,” says Lockhart.

Supplying some of that energy at the Kids Matinees will be the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir, making its first holiday appearances with the Pops.

The time spent on the road also serves an important purpose, said Lockhart, in his 23rd season with the Pops.

“Our Holiday Pops and other tours help us stay connected with our audience. At these shows, there is a real sense of joining with the various communities,” explains Lockhart. “It allows people with young families and people of all ages to see us in person, which is very important.”

It also continues a tradition begun in 1973 with a three-concert holiday series conducted by Arthur Fiedler at Symphony Hall. The schedule has expanded each season since, with a program reflecting the musical tastes of Fiedler, his successor, John Williams, and Lockhart.

“At this point, almost 24 years in, it’s hard to remember which numbers I recommended. I do, however, recall suggesting that arranger David Chase do something for us with ‘The 12 Days of Christmas,’” says the conductor.

Chase sure did. His crowd-pleasing arrangement of that classic carol is a staple on a program that also includes Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” written expressly for the Boston Pops in 1948 and first recorded by them the following year.

Another annual favorite, “The Christmas Song,” became a first for Lockhart before he arrived in Boston.

“In 1991, I was associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras when Mel Tormé approached the Cincinnati Pops about recording a Christmas album with us. The arrangements were all his and the original plan was that he would conduct the whole thing.

“I first worked alongside Mel, then I took over all the conducting. I learned a lot about the man who wrote ‘The Christmas Song,’ and how he liked to do the piece. And his album ‘Christmas Songs’ marked my professional recording debut as a conductor,” remembers Lockhart.

That project also gave the then 32-year-old some other memorable insights into the legendary jazz singer, composer and arranger who died in 1999.

“You never wanted to wake up Mel before 10 a.m. He was used to working nights in smoke-filled clubs and he liked to sleep in. I learned that when I called him one morning at 8:30 and he picked up the telephone,” says Lockhart with a laugh. “Let’s just say, the Velvet Fog was not so velvety at that hour.”

More recently, Lockhart collaborated – along with composer Philip Lane and Tony Award-winning, Boston-based orchestrator Bill Elliott – on the Pops’ arrangement of “The Christmas Story,” which this year will be narrated and performed by vocalists Renese King, David McFerrin and Philip Lima.

A telling of the Christmas story through cherished Christmas songs inspired by the words of Isaiah in the New Testament, the music will accompany a film made from images first seen in children’s books by best-selling author and illustrator Tomie dePaola.

In keeping with tradition, this year’s concerts will again feature Hanukkah music, including “Songs of Freedom: A Celebration of Chanukah,” a new arrangement by Judith Clurman, Larry Hochman and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

“The orchestra will be doing three of the six songs from the piece, some familiar Hanukkah songs and some not,” explained Alves. “We wanted to do something different this year and this is a particularly good arrangement, which makes it a great addition to our Hanukkah selections.”

And while the final audience sing-a-long concludes on December 24 when Santa Claus bids Symphony Hall farewell for another year, there will be four post-Christmas shows in 2018.

On December 29 and 30, Lockhart and the Pops will be joined by members of the Wellesley High School chorus for “‘Home Alone’ in Concert,” performing the John Williams score alongside a screening of the 1990 film.

Closing out the season and ringing in the New Year will be actor, animator and singer Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy"), who will perform with the Pops at Symphony Hall on December 31.

Lockhart’s concert schedule is more than full until then, but he will take Christmas off. And he already knows what he hopes to find under the tree with his name on it.

“When it comes to what I want for Christmas, I should probably say world peace. But what I’d really like is a restful day with my family and maybe a new pair of slippers.”