‘We are so happy to have an audience this year’: Tuba Christmas takes center stage at Anchorage’s PAC
Tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums, baritones, and a bass flugelhorn, filled the lobby of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts Saturday for the annual holiday concert.
Updated: December 5, 2022 Published: December 4, 2022
A sousaphone player smiles as they are presented an honorable mention for their holiday decorations during Tuba Christmas at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
A full scale celebration welcomed Tuba Christmas back this year where musicians helped fill the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts lobby with jolly and warm brass sounds.
The event is on the cusp of its 50th year and featured a variety of brass players –– and instruments –– including tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums, baritones and a bass flugelhorn that were adorned with holiday lights, tinsel and bows.
“We are so happy to have an audience this year,” said PAC Community Engagement Manager Erynn Bell. “It’s been quite the journey since 2020.”
"Silent Night" is performed during Tuba Christmas at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.
The first pandemic-era concert was livestreamed and featured just six socially distanced and masked players, Bell told the crowd.
This year, the ensemble was composed of more than 40 people. Families, children and friends filled the stairs, upper levels and lobby floor to listen in and sing along.
Neal Hagland conducts during the free concert. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
A brass player looks at sheet music for “Go Tell It On The Mountain” while playing. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
A brass player performs alongside a large group of tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums, baritones and flugelhorns. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
Ilona Leider stands with her son Ian Leider, 8, and Valerie Tompkins as they listen to a song. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
Commemorative buttons fill a scarf that hangs from a music stand. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
A sousaphone player leads a train of people around the lobby of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts while he plays holiday tunes before the start of Tuba Christmas. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
A brass player looks to conductor Neal Hagland as the song comes to an end. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
A young child plays with her antler headband as she listens to a holiday song. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
Tuba Christmas merchandise, including boxes of commemorative buttons, are displayed at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Anchorage. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
Tuba Christmas commemorative buttons are displayed and for sale during the 2022 Tube Christmas. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
People listen as awards are presented during Tuba Christmas at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022. Awards for members of the ensemble included “People’s Choice”, “Youngest Player”, “Most Mature”, “Gaudiest”, “Nearest Traveled” and “Farthest Traveled”. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
Brass players perform a holiday song for a crowd gathered to watch the concert. (Emily Mesner / ADN)
Emily Mesner is a multimedia journalist for the Anchorage Daily News. She previously worked for the National Park Service at Denali National Park and Preserve and the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, at the Cordova Times and at the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Michigan.