The Allentown Symphony Orchestra “Holiday Pops!” returns, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

The concerts were a sell-out during their inaugural holiday season in December 2022.

Diane Wittry, Allentown Symphony Music Director and Conductor, says the event is now “an Allentown holiday music tradition.

“Along with the great Allentown Symphony Orchestra, we have a program that is fun, unusual and filled with a lot of wonderful guest artists,” Wittry says.

The concert opens with the orchestra’s performance of Don Sebeski’s “A Christmas Scherzo.”

“The first half of the program is truly built around our guest artist, Michael Andrew, who sang with us two years ago. His style is a la Frank Sinatra,” Wittry says.

Andrew is vocalist for “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “The Christmas Waltz,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “The Christmas Song.”

Andrew has accompanied symphony orchestras in virtually every major city in America. For two years, he was the headline singer and bandleader at the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, New York City, where he entertained audiences nightly and hosted a radio broadcast, “Live From the Rainbow Room.”

He was bandleader and singer at Merv Griffin’s Coconut Club, Beverly Hills, Calif. He starred in the world premiere of the new musical, “The Nutty Professor,” that was written by Marvin Hamlisch and Rupert Holmes, and directed by Jerry Lewis.

In the concert, the ASO presents an instrumental interlude with “Gesu Bambino with Sinfonia” from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248,” composed in 1734.

Sure to entertain the audience is the three-movement, “A Klezmer Nutcracker,” which recreates Tchaikovsky’s well-known “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” “Arabian Dance” and “Trepak” with a klezmer feel courtesy of composer Steve Cohen. The movement’s titles are adapted as “Tanz fun der Tsuker-Flom Feheh,” “Arabische Khupa-Tanz” and “Freylakh.”

Accompanying the “Nutcracker” interpretation are dancers from Allentown-based Accent School of Dance, with Karen Rich, Artistic Director.

Andrew returns to the stage with Dean Martin’s “Christmas Blues” and Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” The concert’s first-half closes with “Rocket Sleigh” by Delvyn Case.

“My goal was to bring our audience things which are unusual; that they’ve not heard before,” says Wittry, “and to engage our artistic community, which is quite prominent in the second half.”

The program continues with “A Celtic Christmas Overture,” featuring dancers from the O’Grady Quinlan Academy of Irish Dance, with Colleen Quinlan Schroeder, Director, and area musicians, Matilda Snyder, a Schadt String Award winner, on fiddle, and Terry Hartzell, Uilleann Bagpipes.

“Appalachian Carol” follows and features a penny whistle solo and performance on musical saw by Gregor Kitzis.

The Emmaus High School Chorale, under the direction of Julia Wallace, regales the audience with “Angels in the Snow” by Tracey R. Rush.

Andrew and dancers from Accent Dance join the Chorale in the popular “The Man with the Bag” followed by the Chorale’s performance of John Rutter’s “The 12 Days of Christmas” and Randol Bass’s “Bell Ringer’s Holiday,” which combines four well-known Christmas songs, accompanied by bells.

A “Christmas Pops Sing-Along” provides an opportunity for audience participation. The concert concludes with “Saints Hallelujah” for chorus, orchestra and brass.

“What a fun way to end a concert,” says Wittry. “I hope this puts people in the holiday spirit and that they leave happy, excited and feel that they experienced things they hadn’t expected.”

Concerts participants include Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, guest announcer, and Robert Trexler, special guest.

‘Holiday Pops!,” Allentown Symphony Orchestra, 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown. Tickets: box office, 610-432-6715, https://www.millersymphonyhall.org

“Classical View” is a column about classical music, concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnon-line.com