Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate conducts the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in October 2020. Photo by Heather Hanson

“After planning to replace its annual holiday extravaganza ‘The Christmas Show’ with a stripped-down, socially distanced ‘A Classic Christmas,’ the Oklahoma City Philharmonic announced just before Thanksgiving new plans to make this year’s yuletide concert a streaming-only event,” due to rising COVID-19 infection rates, writes Brandy McDonnell in Friday’s (12/4) Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City). “ ‘It’s going to be very innovative—and I think it’s going to be good,’ said Susan Webb, the OKC Philharmonic’s marketing director…. ‘It will be only with two soloists … not the big staging, not the big choirs and everything,’ said Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate … The orchestra has been performing the Christmas numbers this week, with Spark Creative CEO Christopher Lloyd, a former OKC Philharmonic associate board member, directing the videography. The digital concert is slated to debut Sunday [and] will be available for unlimited viewing through Christmas Day…. The OKC Philharmonic also has postponed its entire January performance slate … with new dates to be announced next month. ‘We are striving to be nimble in fulfilling our mission to the community, which is to bring inspiration and joy through orchestral music,’ said Executive Director Agnieszka Rakhmatullaev in a statement.”