I've always loved Christmas.  And in the last few years, since having children, the magic of this time of year is even more heightened.  My wife calls me "Mr. Christmas" on account of my unabashed love for all things festive!

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So being a composer, you can imagine how much I love Christmas music.  Somehow it captures this unique time when people just let themselves bask in the mystical, magical wonder of Winter.  It's as though we withdraw to a quiet, contemplative  place at the end of the year, knowing that as we take stock of what's been, and look ahead to what will be, we share our hermit's cave with millions of others doing the same thing.  There is solidarity in our blissful seclusion.  For me, Christmas music embodies and enhances this sense of being somehow joined to everyone else.

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I've always harboured a desire to contribute to the world of Christmas music, and in 2016 I finally took the plunge and wrote an album of brand new orchestral arrangements of well-loved Christmas songs, reimagined and embellished.  I started with the feeling that each song, in its original form, gives me when I hear it every year, and went from there, to capture and 'flesh out' that mood.  Hence "Sketches of Christmas".

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I also wrote a brand new Christmas pop song: "The Best One Yet". My hope is that you'll be dancing around the Christmas tree to this one!

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I really hope you enjoy the music - you're why I write music, and it would be a sheer delight to know that my album has found its way into being a part of your Christmas playlist, wherever you are.  Let's make this year the best one yet!

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Merry Christmas!

Nik Haley