Tuba lovers spread Christmas cheer with concert

TubaChristmas was founded 43 years ago by a guy who, well, loved tubas. And lo, in every state there are people who love tubas and euphoniums, never more so than during the Christmas season. They organize Christmas tuba concerts from Athens, Georgia to Anaheim, Calif., (where TubaChristmas is held at Downtown Disney).

In Lexington, for the past four years Lexington Catholic band teacher Lawrence Banks has picked up the baton to put on a tuba Christmas concert. The ensemble plays music by Alec Wilder, who wrote special arrangements of traditional Christmas music to show off the full majesty of the tuba.

Banks recruits from his students and local tuba aficionados. He had scheduled a concert at Triangle Park in downtown Lexington for Saturday to echo the first TubaChristmas concert, held on the ice rink in Rockefeller Center in 1974. The weather didn’t cooperate, so he moved the event inside to The Square, formerly Victorian Square.

The tubas played old favorites including “Jingle Bells” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” as a small audience sang along.

“We just like spreading the Christmas cheer,” Banks said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Tuba lovers spread Christmas cheer with concert."