The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Holiday Pops is the sequined stuff of which memories are made.

A decade ago, audiences gawked at Doc Severinsen’s sparkling duds.

“He sported a red shirt, glittering gold tie and a gold lame jacket with large but subtle green and red patterns interwoven,” Buffalo News Critic Herman Trotter wrote in 1998. “And after intermission he emerged with his gold tie accompanied by a flaming red ensemble.”

Marvin Hamlisch, who succeeded Severinsen as BPO principal pops conductor, brought his own brand of humor. In 2004, he and the BPO welcomed crooner John Stevens, then fresh from his “American Idol” breakthrough.

Hamlisch took that occasion to advise Stevens that if he wanted to be like Sinatra, he needed more swagger. The earnest, youthful Stevens tried his best.

“Oh, that’s going to scare them in Hoboken,” Hamlisch joked.

This year’s Holiday Pops, which takes place 8 p. m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p. m. Sunday in Kleinhans Music Hall, brings a few twists.

First, making her Holiday Pops debut is BPO Music Director JoAnn Falletta. She is looking forward to greeting the decked-out, glittering throng.

“Some people who come to Holiday Pops never come to any other concerts,” she says. “This gives me a chance to meet them.”

Secondly, this could be the first Holiday Pops to make it practical to hope for snow. Show up in person at the Kleinhans box office when it is snowing, and Holiday Pops tickets are $10 off.

As the icing on the holiday cookie, this year’s show will be welcoming back Stevens, for the first time in five years. Stevens, from East Amherst, just graduated from the Berklee College of Music.

How is that swagger coming along, the swagger that Hamlisch suggested?

“I’ve got a lot more confidence now,” Stevens says with a laugh.

‘Weneedto behappy’

For this year’s show, Falletta heads a host of talent, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, the Buffalo Niagara Youth Chorus, actor Neil Garvey and singer Michele Ragusa. Garvey’s take on “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” is sure to be a highlight. So will the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus’ no-holds-barred “We Need a Little Christmas,” from “Mame.”

Falletta had her reasons for that song. “This year, people seem to need Christmas a lot,” she says. “That’s why we put the song in near the beginning. We need to celebrate, we need to be happy, we need to know we have gotten through difficult times. At least I find that. People need this time to get in touch with what’s important.”

Stevens echoes her thoughts. Happy to be home, he is soaking up the ambience of a Buffalo December and knocking around town promoting his new Christmas CD, aptly titled “Home for Christmas.”

“It was recorded here in Buffalo, with Buffalo musicians,” he says. “A lot of

musicians who have worked with the BPO are playing on it. And a dollar from each album goes to the Buffalo chapter of the Red Cross.

“I like to emphasize the home factor. It’s important. It’s important to be home with family and celebrate.”

In town for the last few weeks, Stevens has been embracing the local scene. He sang the national anthems at the recent game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens.

“I was nervous about that,” he confesses. “I’ve never sung the Canadian anthem before. And the game was against Montreal! I stepped out there and all I saw were red shirts. I thought, ‘What am I in for?’ ”

And he did a recent show with the Colored Musicians Club big bands at Erie Community College.

“I love performing with big bands. There’s nothing like it, the whole big band behind you. There’s nothing to take the place of that.”

Big band sounds will accompany Stevens when he sings “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” at Holiday Pops. He also will be singing “A Christmas Song,” and joining Ragusa for “White Christmas” and a song by Hamlisch called “Chanukah Lights.”

‘An outgoing jacket’

Pressed for reminiscences of his “American Idol” adventure, Stevens shyly complies.

“It was surreal,” he admits.

“It’s weird to be on camera in front of so many people. Afterward, we’d go to the mall. The stylist, and the clothing director, the guy who picks out what to wear. And people would come up to me and recognize me and freak out!” He laughs.

“All you see are 200 people in the audience. You don’t realize that all these other people are seeing you on TV.”

At Berklee, Stevens was delighted to find other old souls who shared his love for the big band era. “It was an amazing experience, how many of the other students like that kind of music and listen to that kind of music,” he says.

But the music school in Boston also broadened his horizons. “I actually am writing my own stuff now, trying to incorporate that in my repertoire as well as keep that style — jazz and big band,” he says. “I’m also playing around in different rhythms, rock and pop and country, trying to incorporate that into my style as well.”

Joining Falletta at the Holiday Pops is a treat for him. “I’m excited about working with her,” he says. “I grew up going to the Pops.”

What does Stevens remember from those Pops concerts?

He hesitates.

“I remember about Doc, he’d come out wearing a different jacket,” he says. “He’d wear one jacket on the first half, then come out wearing a different jacket in the second half. It would always be a very shiny, very outgoing jacket. That’s the one thing that sticks out in my mind more than anything.”

An unforgettable image! Might Stevens pay tribute to Doc, this weekend at Kleinhans?

“Maybe, maybe,” he muses. “I’m going to have to talk to JoAnn Falletta.”

Concert Preview

BPO Holiday Pops

8 p. m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p. m. Sunday

Kleinhans Music Hall

885-5000