Pictyured Fulcrum Point. Rose Emsemble. Chicago Children's Choir.
It's that time of year, when Christmas follows fast upon Thanksgiving's leftovers. The Holidays are upon us, complete with suitable musical programming. That's either good or bad, depending on whether you're an unreconstructed Scrooge or a Sugarplum Fairy, for no other holiday has inspired such a diverse wealth of music as Christmas. Indeed, the holiday repertory expands each year, with new songs of the season added to the canon of classics and traditional music that already spans some 700 or 800 years. If you don't find music you like at Christmas, then you probably don't like music.
More than any other time of the year, Christmas concerts focus on the choral repertory vs. the purely instrumental. Leading the way, Dec. 3 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, is the celebrated, 100-voice Chicago Children's Choir, with concerts of holiday song at 3 and 7 p.m. Besides familiar popular favorites, featured works include Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Om Shanti Om, the finale from SitaRam and Indian-inspired work commissioned by the Choir; ( 312 ) 334-7777; $13-$45.
Voices are raised in song just about everywhere, even out in Arlington Heights. The Lakeside Singers offer To Sing in Winter, Dec. 5 at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, featuring music from the Middle Ages and from last month, from Mendelssohn to the Carpenters, and from France, Latvia and England as well as the United States.
A Cinderella story is not exactly part of the Holiday tradition, but it's not completely inappropriate, either. The musical Cinderella story of the year is the revival of Bella Voce, the highly regarded a cappella choral group dissolved by its own board of directors last spring after 23 years ( it was founded as His Majestie's Clerkes ) . However, the board failed to consult with the ensemble—you know, the folks who do the work—about shutting down. Several key ensemble members took matters into their own hands, raised new money, raised a new board of directors and launched a new season with October concerts.
Holiday concerts are next up for Bella Voce, offering a program primarily of Renaissance Christmas motets, conducted by Andrew Lewis. There will be three concerts Dec. 9, 11 and 18 in, respectively, Chicago ( St. James Cathedral ) , Evanston ( Immanuel Lutheran Church ) and Lisle ( St. Procopius Abbey ) ; ( 312 ) 404-3033; $25.
The 10-year-old Chicago Chamber Choir ( CCC ) carries on its annual tradition of a Concert for Peace, joining forces with Fulcrum Point New Music Project for Transcending Aggression, Dec. 13 at the Harris Theater. The CCC also offers Carols by Candlelight: A Holiday Sing-Along Dec. 18 in Chicago ( Unity Lutheran Church ) and Dec. 19 in Evanston ( Lake Street Church ) ; ( 312 ) 409-6890; $15-$16. A new CCC-CD of holiday music, I Heard the Bells, also is available for purchase.
Symphony Center brightens the season with two annual programs, A Chanticleer Christmas and Welcome Yule! Chanticleer is a Grammy Award-winning 12-voice a cappella group that covers the musical map from Renaissance to jazz. For the sixth year, they offer songs of the season in Dec. 6-7 concerts at the Fourth Presbyterian Church ( presented by Symphony Center despite the location ) ; $30-$50. The Dec. 16-23 Welcome Yule! concerts are at Symphony Center proper, sponsored by Sara Lee; $14-$58. These very popular family-oriented programs feature the Chicago Symphony Orchestra ( CSO ) and Chorus, dancers and a children's ensemble in a mixed program of sing-along songs, holiday favorites and special appearances by Santa and the Christmas Grouch.
By the way, if you have young'uns who are ready for more sophisticated-but-still-family-friendly music, you might consider the Dec. 3 Kraft Family Matinee concerts at Symphony Center at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.; $6-$27 ( a bargain for music and dance of this caliber ) . The program offer works by Fry, Copland ( his familiar and noble Fanfare for the Common Man ) , Nielsen, Mozart ( his familiar Eine kleine Nachtmusik ) and Benjamin Britten ( his familiar The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra ) . FYI: at least two of these five composers were gay. Dancers from Hubbard Street 2 also will participate.
For prices and tickets of any Symphony Center program, call ( 312 ) 294-3000.
Now, for those of you who are unemployed, homeless or destitute, well, we can't help you out but there ARE any number of absolutely FREE holiday musical programs to lift your hearts and keep you in a warm room for an hour or two. The Chicago Cultural Center presents Your Holiday Hit Parade, December 10 at 1 and 3 p.m., offering holiday music from the Great American Songbook ( which, of course, isn't an actual book at all ) . Several of our favorite performers will participate, among them Becky Menzie, Tom Michael, Ginger Tam and Robert Whorton. It's free, but reservations are required; ( 312 ) 742-1079.
The very next day at 3 p.m. the Cultural Center presents the Protégé Philharmonic in a concert of seasonal works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Liszt, Bizet, Bach, Leroy Anderson, Irving Berlin and Mel Torme. It's an odd mix of composers, but all wrote music now associated with Christmas. Free, no reservations required ( but come early ) .
On Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m., the Cultural Center offers what may be the most unique holiday concert of 2005, Celebremos el Nino: A Mexican Baroque Christmas. The program promises two centuries of Mexican Christmas ballads, dances and villancicos from the cathedrals of Puebla and Mexico City, accompanied by viola da gamba, vihuela da mano and African drums. And it's free as well.
The treasure trove of performance that is the Cultural Center continues with its regular non-holiday musical programming in December as well, offering free classical concerts and recitals each Monday and Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. The Chicago Chamber Musicians perform and all-Mozart program Dec. 5; piano soloist Sevgi Giles plays Brahms and Bach, Dec. 7; the Sheridan Chamber Players traverse Mozart, Robert Schumann, Rachmaninoff and Milhaud, Dec. 12; and Alexander Fiterstein and Steven Beck perform clarinet and piano works, Dec. 14.
The Lakeside Pride Symphonic Band's Holiday Magic concert is Sat., Dec. 3, 8 p.m., Northside College Prep, 5501 N. Kedzie, www.lakesidepride.org; $10 advance, $12 at the door.
The holiday concerts for Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, called A Cowboy Christmas, are Dec. 9-10, at the Athenaeum Theater, 2936 N Southport, www.cgmc.org .
The choruses of Windy City Performing Arts sing holiday cheer Sat., Dec, 3, 5 and 8 p.m., Unity in Chicago, 1925 W. Thome Ave., www.windycitysings.org .
