Canadian Brass brings holiday cheer to the Peace Center: Upstate Beat

Canadian Brass might not be as loud or as lavish as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but it’s clear its members enjoy Christmastime just as much.

The brass quintet, which formed in 1970 in Toronto, has released nearly 15 Christmas-themed albums and typically tours with a festive and fun holiday show. This time out, that show is simply called “Canadian Brass Holiday,” and the ensemble brings it to the Peace Center on Dec. 2.

Canadian Brass trumpeter Joe Burgstaller has been with the group for more than 20 years, so he’s been a part of plenty of Christmas-themed shows. He says the group has created a unique formula for its holiday shows.

“The interesting thing about Canadian Brass is that we’ve created a repertoire all our own,” Burgstaller says. “It didn’t exist for a brass band before.”

The “Canadian Brass Holiday” show begins with a dive into the classical music canon, a portion of the show called “Masterworks.” Burgstaller says to expect works by Mozart — notably the overture to “The Magic Flute” — as well as Vivaldi and Bach.

After that portion of the show, the familiar holiday pop tunes begin, including performances of “Jingle Bell Rock” and “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” There’s even a section of classic Vince Guaraldi tunes from the TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

“Then we go to a piece from everyone’s favorite Christmas movie, ‘Die Hard,’” Burgstaller adds with a laugh, though he quickly says he’s thrilled with the program that Canadian Brass has created.

“For this particular program we took a lot of care,” he says. “We do that for all our programs, but this particular one took quite a while to figure out, because we have such a bounty through 54 years of music that’s been written or arranged for us.”

Even if you’re not a holiday music fan, you might want to see the “Canadian Brass Holiday” show for the jokes alone. A typical Canadian Brass performance contains almost as many one-liners as songs, and they even perform the occasional skit between tunes.

“I think the humor came out of the original group,” Burgstaller says. “What we’re trying to do is bring the piece to life, and sometimes that’s through anecdotes about the composer or about how they got the piece. You’re basically bringing the audience into the creative process.”