Holiday Concert Delights

By MARILYN BROWN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Nov 28, 2007

TAMPA - Many of the 2,500 children at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on Tuesday had trouble describing their take on the hourlong concert given in their honor to celebrate the season.

Their faces said it all: happiness.

From the first soft strains from The Florida Orchestra to the clear solo of Mary Kay Wilson's "O Holy Night," and a finale of carols sung from every corner of the hall, the faces captured the day.

Calvin Young, enraptured, sat with his classmates from Cahoon Elementary magnet school near the front of the hall. In his school T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, the 9-year-old smiled broadly and nodded when asked his favorite.

"Jingle Bells," he said.

Up at the very top of the third balcony in the last row by the wall sat 31 fourth- and fifth-graders from Tampa's Bing Elementary. Eyes wide, they clapped and sang along to "Sleigh Ride" as the orchestra created the sounds of horses, bells and a whip. Closest to the stage, where ballerinas twirled and professional wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage literally growled his annual "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ode, perched fourth- and fifth-graders from Tampa's Edison Elementary.

The 19th annual Children's Holiday Concert brought together students from dozens of schools with the highest rate of students from poor families.

The event is sponsored by the principal owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner, and his family's foundation.