WHAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT THIS CONCERT

Irvin Berlin’s 1942 song, White Christmas won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1943. Bing Crosby’s version is the world’s best-selling single ever (in physical media), with over 50 million copies sold worldwide.
This is Marc Broussard’s third appearance with ASO. He previously performed with the Symphony for its Christmas concert in 2015, and also he also narrated the Peter & the Wolf story, performed by ASO in 2021.
Christmas Eve/Sarajevo is an instrumental version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The piece describes a lone cellist playing a forgotten Christmas carol in war-torn Sarajevo. It is based on the true story of a cello player named Vedran Smailović, who played alone each day among the bombed ruins of Sarajevo, in honor of each person killed in the bombing. He was not the only cellist who played through the siege – the Sarajevo String Quartet, which had elderly members, were also noted for their continuous performances throughout the Serbian siege.