Songs of the Season: Upcoming Holiday Concerts in NYC

By Troy Segal

New York, New York—it’s a musical town, especially during the festive season. This quintet of concerts offers a variety of holiday sounds in some non-commercial venues.

Photo: Flavio~ –Flickr

Who needs nutcracker princes and sugar plum fairies when you have bullfighters and foot-stomping dancers? Catch a renowned flamenco troupe performing Navidad Flamenca, a fiesta of Hispanic holiday music and dance. Bronx Museum of the Arts, Dec. 13.

Several Noel-ish world premieres by contemporary composer Robert Sirota—including one based on his family’s audio Christmas cards—along with other Christmas- and Hanukkah-themed pieces, comprise this Songs of the Season concert. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dec. 19.

It’s pure Menorah Madness when kiddie-rocker Joanie Leeds and her band, the Nightlights, take the stage during the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Family Hanukkah party, Dec. 14.

Vaughan Williams. Healy-Hutchinson. Delius. All the big names in classical holiday music are on the program when the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra does its thing at a special concert at the Brooklyn Museum, Dec. 21.

To prove its point about Music, Comedy, & the Urgency of Justice, this philosophically minded theater troupe performs, and comments, on popular carols and Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. Aesthetic Realism Foundation, Dec. 21.