The Butler County Symphony Orchestra performs at the Holiday Traditions concert in 2023. Submitted photo

The Butler County Symphony Orchestra’s holiday concert is generally the association’s biggest concert of the year — an opportunity the show’s guest conductor plans to make the most of.

Austin Chanu, guest conductor for the symphony and finalist for its musical director position, said he is not only bringing one of his favorite musical pieces to the show, but also planning to speak to the audience in between songs. He said this show being the Christmas concert is what gives him the chance to do some audience interaction.

“I always love doing holiday shows, so I'm excited to do this show, their biggest one,” Chanu said. “Usually there’s not much talking, but in these programs, I’m going to engage with the audience. Even when you’re not facing, you can feel the energy, so I can turn around and talk to the audience between pieces.”

The symphony orchestra’s Holiday Traditions concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at Butler Intermediate High School, and will feature traditional Christmas carols, as well as a sing along with the group’s choir — a practice that started at last year’s show.

According to Herb Nichol, marketing director for the Butler County Symphony Association, the three guest conductors taking the helm this season have been a part of the programming process for their respective shows. So Chanu got to pick some of the arrangements going into this show, and he will be the guest conductor for the February show.

Nichol said Holiday Traditions is popular not only because of its music selection, but because the orchestra association pulls out all the stops to make it an event. There will be basket raffles at the show, and the whole thing will be followed by a reception with Chanu, which also will be attended by Santa Claus.

“There's going to be a cookie reception with Santa and with Chanu following the concert,” Nichol said. “Santa will be coming to the concert, and people will have a chance to talk to Santa and bring their Christmas lists.”

Chanu, too, has some surprises in store for the concert, starting with the arrangement of selections from “The Nutcracker.” Chanu said he will conduct an arrangement that will go back and forth from the original Tchaikovsky arrangement to a jazzy version done by Duke Ellington. The freedom with the programming allowed Chanu to bring his own “voice” to the show.

“I love some of these arrangements, so I wanted to juxtapose the original and Duke Ellington’s versions of the Nutcracker,” Chanu said. “This is definitely my way of bringing my own spin on it, and what I grew up with. Jazz was a big part of my childhood and musical growth in middle and high school.”

Chanu is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area; and he attended University of Southern California and obtained his doctorate from Eastman School of Music. He was most recently assistant conductor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, and placed third in an international conductor’s competition based in Korea.

The orchestra will rehearse twice before the concert, and Chanu said he is looking forward to seeing how its members do with the music and introducing himself to the community.

“With a pro orchestra, you don’t need to rehearse for months and months, they put time into it beforehand,” Chanu said. “I always love doing holiday shows, so I'm excited to do this show, their biggest one.”

Nichol said the concert will probably sell out, and tickets are available online at butlersymphony.org.