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!
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!
Beethoven: Triple Concerto. Soloists: Andrew Ho, Ayaan Ahmad, Lazar Kaminsky
Dvorak: Symphony No. 6
Music is a collaborative art form, bringing us together to listen, learn, and rip a few hot breaks. Join us as we open Groton Hill’s inspiring facilities to jammers from across the region. Pick your favorite genre and play, move from room to room, or just hang out with friends to listen over a pint. Jams will run every second Tuesday from September through June!
Ages 16+ welcome!
For 30 years, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s unique take on American swing and jazz music has thrilled audiences around the world, while their unique and spirited “Wild and Swingin’ Holiday Party” has become an eagerly anticipated annual family event. Singer and band leader Scotty Morris says, “If you’re going to go to a holiday show with your family, this is the one! It really does offer something for everyone.” Drawing on a rich catalogue of holiday classics and Christmas originals from the band’s two full length holiday albums, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy brings its world-renowned live show, and fun and quirky take on the holidays, to you.
Fun arrangements of classic holiday songs in Big Bad Voodoo Daddy style include: Jingle Bells, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, and Winter Wonderland. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is “Andrew’s Sisters” meets the blues, and the just as classic Heat Miser song transports listeners back to another beloved holiday special. The band rips through Chuck Berry’s Run, Run Rudolph, Lou Rawls’ Merry Christmas Baby, and slows things down for Elvis Presley’s Blue Christmas. Detours to New Orleans for Frosty the Snowman, and to the Caribbean for the Calypso A Party for Santa, keep things interesting. The band takes a moment to reflect on the beauty and spirituality of the holidays with their moving arrangement of We Three Kings.
This annual holiday concert serves up the spirit of the season in a big way. Navy Band Northeast, a 35-musician ensemble based on board NAVSTA Newport and one of 11 official U.S. Navy bands worldwide, team with the NEC Symphonic Winds directed by Bill Drury and NEC Chamber Singers directed by Erica Washburn. The Brown Bag Concert Series, presented by Mechanics Hall and 90.5 FM WICN, has been a beloved tradition in Worcester since 1983. These hour-long concerts by acclaimed regional and national performers are held in the Great Hall on select Wednesdays from noon to 1pm. Bring your own “brown bag” lunch, and enjoy wonderful music while eating your lunch! Cabaret-style seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. All concerts are free, open to the public, and subject to change. The accessible entrance to Mechanics Hall is located on Waldo Street. Elevators are located in the ground-floor lobby and provide access to the second and third floors. Please note, there is no elevator access to the balcony. All concerts take place in the Great Hall on the third floor. If you need assistance, please contact the Mechanics Hall Ticket Office, Wednesday through Friday from 11:00am-5:00pm, by calling 508-752-0888. Whenever possible, Brown Bag Concerts are also broadcast live on WICN 90.5FM, and streamed live on WICN.org.
A Festive Show For Zipsters, Friends and Family
The Squirrel Nut Zippers bring their joyous, raucous Christmas Caravan Tour back again performing all of the hits from Holidays past. From heartwarming ballads to boisterous dance tunes, the band conjures an atmosphere nestled somewhere between the wondrous lights of Christmas and the backroom din of a speakeasy. This show is a must-see for any true music lover.
The Christmas Caravan show features holiday hits and classics, selections from the Squirrel Nut Zipper’s holiday album Christmas Caravan, and the finest new and old Squirrel Nut Zippers catalog music. Inspired by 1920s jazz, klezmer and old time music, SNZ’s endlessly curious and innovative leader Jimbo Mathus has concocted a show truly unique and original. This unique blend is on full display with the Christmas Caravan show, which has increasingly grown in popularity, selling out venues throughout the United States.
“There is of course jazz of various stripes (mainly pre-WWII varieties) on this deliciously wide ranging night of entertainment, but there’s so much more: sounds, identifiable and not, emanating from mysterious times and places, not the least of which is New Orleans, their home base, a land that, forever and still, has a mind of its own.” – Relix
Michelle Willson is known as Evil Gal to blues lovers around the globe. “It is impossible not to be moved by this performer…with her lush, sultry & robust voice, Willson can get a rise out of a stone statue”–MSN music – all music guide.
She’s known as Queen of the Vibe Tribe to listeners of Morning Vibe Time, her radio show on NPR affiliate station 90.5 WICN in Worcester, who also have their own nickname –Tribe-arinos! Michelle has recorded and released 4 award winning albums for Rounder Records, as well as a live recording at Scullers Jazz Club. She’s performed on many other artist’s recordings, such as blues legends Duke Robillard, Anthony Geraci and Porky Cohen. She sang with Dr. John at The Wilbur Theatre in Boston and has toured around the globe, most recently from performances in Switzerland.
The Umbrella Stage Company in partnership with Firebird Pops Orchestra is thrilled to announce the return of our holiday pops concert!
The orchestra will sweep you away with magical scores from seasonal favorites like Sleigh Ride and The Eighth Candle, classics including The Christmas Song, the beloved sing-along--plus a new holiday favorite, Rocket Sleigh (by Boston-based composer Delvyn Case)!
Stay tuned for more information on this year's program and soloist information--it's sure to be a magical event!