Audiences who come to see the Holiday Pops can usually expect jaunty chestnuts like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” or “The Polar Express.”

But this year conductor Keith Lockhart was stirred by a bittersweet episode from history: an impromptu and unsanctioned ceasefire that took place during World War I.

“The particular thing about this story is that the uniting force, the thing that brings people together, is music,” Lockhart explained.

So in order to mark the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce of 1914, Lockhart commissioned a new narrated work combining words and music to tell the story of that famous display of humanity.

• Read Shea’s full article here.

Reporter

• Andrea Shea, arts reporter for WBUR. She tweets @asheaarts.

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