Last Sunday evening, we attended the Newark-Granville Symphony Orchestra’s “A Very Merry Holiday Pops” concert at the Midland Theatre in downtown Newark, Ohio and we are so glad we did.  The music was wonderful!  The conductor, Russel C. Mikkelson, Music Director did a fine job in communicating the songs and sharing some informational tidbits on each.  They opened with “A Christmas Festival of Carols” and my personal favorite songs of the night were “Appalachian Carol”,” A Charleston Christmas”, and “The Skaters Op. 183”.  Two local high school choirs joined the stage after intermission and they were impressively talented; the students clearly were enjoying themselves, which contagiously spread to the audience in the enjoyment of their performance.  A special surprising treat was when the Granville High School Symphonic Choir and the Newark High School Choir surprisingly whipped out kazoos to play along with the Theme from “Elf”.  This was the first time that my parents heard the NGSO and they were so pleased with the concert that they have decided to attend more NGSO concerts in the future!    We are thankful to have enjoyed another joyful and good spirited performance in an Ohio theatre this Christmas season.  Merry Christmas, everyone!