Mannheim Steamroller Brings a Unique Mixture of Sounds and Styles to Its Concerts for Christmas

Composer Chip Davis has been busy enough this last year; there’s little arguing about that. The mastermind and leader of Mannheim Steamroller is only now on hiatus from the massive benefit concert tour for Yellowstone National Park that has already raised about $300,000 for fire-control projects. And even that break is partly so he could lead another tour called “A Fresh Aire Christmas,” which arrives at the Universal Amphitheater on Wednesday and Thursday.

Also keeping him busy is his American Gramaphone Records, the Nebraska label founded initially to produce and distribute Mannheim Steamroller releases, which has four album releases in Billboard’s Hot 200. Included are John Denver’s “The Flower That Shattered the Stone,” the new “7” Steamroller album, and two earlier Christmas-themed releases that are the foundation of the amphitheater shows.

“The Christmas albums are arrangements of Christmas carols in the same sound genre that I use in the Fresh Aire series,” Davis said. “My basic thing is I mix old and new, old forms with new instruments, combined with old instruments.”

While Davis won’t be using the 80-person symphony orchestra of the Yellowstone series, the Christmas shows promise a group of 16 pit musicians in addition to the Mannheim Steamroller group of four.

It’s often the hard-core Steamroller fans who come to the holiday concerts, Davis said, and the show’s first half is actually devoted to selections from the non-Christmas albums. And like his recent Yellowstone programs, which he plans to continue with 10 shows next year, the concert promises dramatic visuals with lighting effects and film.

“I try to use the visuals as a backdrop to the music, to place you somewhere, so that it creates somewhat of an atmosphere.”

But during one segment of the concert, Davis drops virtually all modern instruments and synthesizers for something more traditional.

“I took five of the Christmas carols back to their origins in the 14th Century, and we perform them that way. People from the orchestra come out in costumes from the period, and we perform them in the Renaissance spirit. It’s fun, without the big production, no multimedia. It breaks up the whole concert.”

Mannheim Steamroller performs “A Fresh Aire Christmas” at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday a t the Universal Amphitheater, Universal City. Tickets $22 and $25. For information, call (818) 980-9421 .