Sunday night's sleet and freezing rain, though cold, could not dampen the spirits of those gathered at SS. Peter and John Episcopal Church for the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble holiday concert.

Listeners old and young smiled, tapped their feet, and sometimes sang along, voices and horns resonating in the majestic sanctuary of the church.

The program boasted an enormous variety of music - everything from traditional Christmas carols like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” to Robert Ward's “In Praise of Science,” a piece so new that last night was only the second time it has been publicly performed.

Laura Enslin, who teaches in the musical theater program at Syracuse University, sang with the brass ensemble for “In Praise of Science,” her operatic soprano voice soaring over the crowd.

The was written for the university by Ward, one of the world's most prestigious composers.

“In Praise of Science,” was written to celebrate the opening of the Life Sciences Complex at the university. Ward is best known for his 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, “The Crucible,” which is an adaptation of an Author Miller play.

The ensemble usually only performs brass pieces, but “In Praise of Science” was written with a vocal part. The words are adapted from an Anne Lynch Botta poem called “In Praise of Science.”

The second half of the concert consisted mainly of Christmas classics, like the catchy, wildly popular Leroy Anderson tune “Sleigh Ride.” Director James T. Spencer joked that the trumpet part at the end of the song, meant to sound like a horse whinny, “is the reason so many kids choose to play the trumpet.”

The night ended with a joyful sing-along.

With parents bouncing their children on their knees and grandparents singing along with their grandchildren, the band concluded the concert with their most spirited renditions of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Silent Night,” and finally, “Joy to the World.”