Featuring WCRB’s Laura Carlo, narrating Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet, The Nutcracker & the Mouse King, adapted by Jonathan McPhee, New World Chorale & Lexington Children’s Chorus under the auspices of Lexington Music School

Our signature holiday event!  

Every year, our Holiday POPS! concerts explore a different facet of this most wonderful time of the year. Celebrate the magic of the holidays with us! Featuring Lexington Children’s Chorus, under the auspices of Lexington Music School, New World Chorale and special guest, Santa Claus!

Featuring WCRB’s Laura Carlo, narrating Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet, The Nutcracker & the Mouse King, adapted by Jonathan McPhee, New World Chorale & Lexington Children’s Chorus under the auspices of Lexington Music School

Our signature holiday event!  

Every year, our Holiday POPS! concerts explore a different facet of this most wonderful time of the year. Celebrate the magic of the holidays with us! Featuring Lexington Children’s Chorus, under the auspices of Lexington Music School, New World Chorale and special guest, Santa Claus!

Bluegrass supergroup Mr Sun performs a new interpretation of Ellington’s legendary Nutcracker Suite!

If you haven’t heard of the cheerfully named supergroup Mr Sun, you’ve certainly heard its proponents, four of the finest musicians on the American roots scene: Renowned fiddler Darol Anger, Professor Emeritus at Berklee College of Music, who has released many solo albums in addition to his work with David Grisman and Mike Marshall, and founded the Turtle Island Quartet, Psychograss, and Republic of Strings;  Joe K. Walsh,  mandolin virtuoso and vocalist who spent four years with the award-winning bluegrass act the Gibson Brothers before becoming solo artist and songwriter and Strings Department Professor at Berklee; all-around guitar genius Grant Gordy, a former member of Dawg Music guru David Grisman’s band; and the phenomenal Scots bassist Aidan O’Connell, who has backed harpist Maeve Gilchrist and countless modern Jazz heroes.

Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite contains some of the most beloved and familiar melodies in the Western world. Mr Sun has seized upon the inspiration of Duke Ellington’s brilliant, sly, & urbane re-interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Suite as an opportunity to salute and re-invent this wildly multi-faceted work anew through the lens of the American String Band, a musical form which contains myriad styles and is presently engaged in a marathon upheaval of innovation and expansion.

Zeke Fetrow, Conductor

Friday December 6, 2024 8:00PM
Saturday December 7, 2024 8:00PM (7:15PM pre-concert conductor talk)

Christmas Magic returns to the Concert Hall this year with a very special program of holiday favorites and family fun! We’ll be joined by special guests to fill the hall with the sound of anticipation and joy. Make Christmas Magic part of your family holiday tradition this year!