The final week before Christmas will bring some of the best holiday shows.
The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra will open its season Monday, Dec. 22, with “Home for the Holidays.” The pops concert will be the YSO’s first show with its new music director-conductor, Erik Ochsner.
The 7:30 p.m. concert at Stambaugh Auditorium will feature regional favorite Amanda Beagle as guest vocalist.
A Howland native and a former Miss Ohio (2004), Beagle is a singer and an educator who runs a vocal studio.
“I’m really honored to be the guest artist on the opening concert and thankful we have our Youngstown Symphony thriving,” she said in a recent interview with The Business Journal.
Beagle has never performed with the full YSO before, and she hopes it becomes the start of something for her career.
“I come from a background of performing in cabaret-style settings, including work aboard cruise ships, so I’ve always loved connecting with audiences in a personal way,” she said.
Beagle said she’d like to continue working with orchestras and partially reverse a trend that started a few years ago.
“The pandemic shifted my focus from auditioning and performing to putting down roots and helping [her students] find and strengthen their voices,” she said. “But I always look for opportunities to share my own voice.”
For tickets, click HERE.
‘Miracle on Easy Street’
Also returning this weekend is “Miracle on Easy Street,” the glittery song and dance spectacular presented every year by Easy Street Productions.
The show will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Powers Auditorium in Youngstown.
With a cast of about 100 musicians, singers and dancers, the show is a happy blizzard of holiday hoopla on a stage bedecked like a Christmas dream.
It’s been said that if you’re running low on Christmas spirit, “Miracle” will get you there in a hurry. For tickets, click HERE.
Peter Noone Christmas Show
Peter Noone and his iconic band, Herman’s Hermits, produced a ton of pop hits in the 1960s.
You might recognize the song titles, even if they were released long before you were born: “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” “There’s a Kind of Hush,” “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and “I’m Into Something Good.”
The ever-youthful Noone and his cohorts are still playing those hits at a constant pace, logging 200 shows a year.
The act will bring its regular set, with the addition of some holiday favorites, to the Robins Theatre on Friday, Dec. 19, for an 8 p.m. concert.
For tickets, click HERE.
Petra’s John Schlitt
Rockin’ Around the Town Square, the hometown tradition in Columbiana, took a few years of hiatus but will return bigger than ever, with shows at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Columbiana Arts Theatre.
Making RATTS – not the greatest acronym – bigger than ever this year will be its special guest singer: John Schlitt of the nationally renowned contemporary Christian rock band Petra. For tickets, go to www.AtTheCat.com
Home for the Slavidays
The wild and wooliest event will be Home for the SLAVidays, which will take place from 6-11 p.m. Friday at Penguin City Brewing, Youngstown. Admission is $15.
The event, presented by the Simply Slavic Festival, will feature the Chardon Polka Band, a gift market and plenty of Polish food and drink. Krampus, the mythical Christmas demon, will also stop in for a beer.
For a complete look at everything going on in the Mahoning Valley, check out The List.
Pictured at top: Amanda Beagle will be the guest vocalist at the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra concert Monday.