By DALE MADISON

On Dec. 15, the South Florida Pride Jazz Ensemble, a component organization of the South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble, and the Ft. Lauderdale Women’s Chorus took the stage in the New River Room at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts for their “Holiday Treasures” concert.

The New River Room, a 200-seat performance space, which regularly hosts the comedy dinner show “Laffing Matterz,” was the perfect space for this concert.

“The intimate setting and relaxed atmosphere was new for us. Our whole goal was to have fun and get people in the holiday spirit,” said Dan Bassett, director of the Pride Jazz Ensemble. The banter between Women’s Chorus Director Todd Wiley and Bassett instantly set the mood for the evening. Keeping the bar open throughout the show helped with the cabaret-style, relaxed atmosphere.

The Pride Jazz Ensemble opened the concert with a swing version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” accompanied by a video describing the parent organization South Florida Performing Arts, which includes the Pride Wind Ensemble, Ft. Lauderdale Women’s Chorus and Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus.

Definite highlights of the evening’s program were soloists James Perkowski singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and Sara McMillan singing “White Christmas.” Perkowski, who is usually featured as a tenor, showed off his sultry baritone range beautifully while McMillan’s silky voice fit “White Christmas” perfectly.

The Women’s Chorus brought the house down with “12 Days After Christmas,” which explained the fallout of receiving 12 days worth of Christmas gifts. More than a few of the birds from the original song met some horrible ends.

The groups of the South Florida Performing Arts take the holidays to give back to the community. The Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus and Women’s Chorus adopted six families from The Broward House, gave them a Christmas dinner, gifts and a special visit by Santa Claus. On Dec. 16, all three groups performed and caroled at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, and the Women’s Chorus sang at two retirement facilities on Dec. 18.

Future events by South Florida Performing Arts will include a presentation of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” at the Parker Playhouse with an all-male cast in March, 2011 and both the Pride Wind Ensemble and Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus’ 25th Anniversary concerts in June .