OCEAN CITY – Saturday night a packed audience in the Music Pier celebrated the season with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra and Maestro Vince Lee.
Lee is not only a highly effective conductor, but he knows how to please a crowd and plan a program. From a medley of five popular tunes to the snap of the whip on the encore of “Sleigh Ride,” Lee comfortably warmed the Pier on a chilly evening.
Lee kidded himself about his use of “favorite” to describe repertoire choices, but the featured selections were just that, familiar favorites dressed up for Christmas. The opening medley passed “Winter Wonderland” among all the sections of the orchestra. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” started with a sentimental French horn, moved to a trumpet solo, and on to sweeping strings. Concertmaster Luigi Mazzocchi soloed “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that was picked up by trombone and the lush sound of the violins.
Another medley felt as if the orchestra were paging through the carols section of a hymnal: “Joy to the World,” “We Three Kings,” “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Silent Night,” a fine setting of “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and even an orchestral amen at the end.
Lee reenacted what he called “a bizarre duet” by Bing Crosby and David Bowie, taking the microphone near the piano to sing (yes, he sings, too) with his pianist friend Eric Svejcar, “Little Drummer Boy.”
Another medley, this time Hanukkah folk tunes, was introduced by a Cameo reel clip of Smokey Robinson, who deliberately mispronounced “ch” for “Chanukah.” The orchestra joyfully spun the dreidel.
Dr. Shannon Cochran demonstrated vocal prowess and an ability to move among styles. Her “O Holy Night” was appropriately operatic as the orchestra gently became accompaniment. She charmed “Gesu Bambino,” singing in the original Italian. Her flawless octaves and perfectly controlled trill fit the fragile orchestration and sweet “Venite adoramus.”
She was equally at home shifting to a pop style “White Christmas” with its easy “bm-chk” accompaniment. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and Mel Torme’s “Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”) fit just as easily into her audience-engaging style. She also included the non-seasonal “I Could Have Danced All Night” (“My Fair Lady”), which included a magnificent high ending.
Lee programmed an audience carol singalong, words on the screen. And this audience sang! Before earning a justified encore and standing O, the Pops displayed their virtuosity with Bizet’s “March of the Three Kings,” the noble “Farandole from L’arlesienne.”
– STORY and PHOTO by RICHARD STANISLAW/For the Sentinel