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Twinkling Lights, Swirling Snowflakes & Pure Holiday Magic: San Bernardino Symphony’s Dazzling Christmas Festival

Picture this: the grand old California Theatre aglow with thousands of tiny white lights, the scent of fresh pine and hot cocoa drifting through the air, and the joyful hum of families in velvet dresses, sparkly bow ties, and gloriously outrageous Christmas sweaters streaming through the doors. On Saturday, December 13, 2025, at exactly 3:00 p.m., the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra invites you to step straight into a living snow-globe for the most heart-melting, toe-tapping, sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs holiday celebration in the Inland Empire: A Christmas Festival.

From the moment you arrive at 2:00 p.m., the lobby will shimmer with Victorian charm as the beloved Dickens Carolers in top hats and hoop skirts serenade you with silver-bell voices. Then Maestro Anthony Parnther raises his baton and—poof!—the orchestra explodes into a whirlwind of pure seasonal joy: the giddy gallop of Sleigh Ride, the jazzy bounce of Boogie Woogie Santa Claus, the velvet renditions of O Holy Night and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas that will bring tears to your eyes, a goose-bump-raising Hallelujah, the swirling romance of My Favorite Things, and Leroy Anderson’s sparkling A Christmas Festival overture that feels like riding through a blizzard of glitter.

Three phenomenal vocalists—LaVance Colley, LC Powell, and Drew Tablak—will wrap their golden voices around every note, while the stage bursts with even more young stars: the San Bernardino Symphony Youth Orchestras, the combined choirs of Granite Hills High School GREAT Academy and Carter High School, and the graceful dancers of A.B. Miller High School Conservatory twirling like sugarplum visions. The grand finale? A roof-raising, everyone-on-their-feet sing-along that will send you floating out into the night wrapped in pure Christmas spirit.

Bring a new, unwrapped toy to make some local children’s wishes come true through San Bernardino Valley College’s EOPS CARE program, and come dressed to dazzle—black-tie glamour and the ugliest sweater you own are equally welcome!

Tickets sparkle from $20–$100 (children, students, and active military always $15) at www.sanbernardinosymphony.orgor (909) 381-5388. Free lighted parking awaits right across from the glowing California Theatre at 562 W. 4th Street.

This isn’t just a concert. It’s the moment the whole year has been waiting for—the Inland Empire’s brightest, warmest, most joyous holiday hug. Come home to the music on December 13. Your heart will thank you!

Photo Credits: San Bernardino Symphony Library.