Chicago Symphony’s “Merry, Merry Chicago!”/Photo: Todd Rosenberg Photography
Those who frequent the Chicago Symphony’s Christmas program “Merry, Merry Chicago!” will have an extra surprise in their stocking this year: New chorus master Donald Palumbo will be preparing the CSO Chorus for these annual Yuletide concerts for the first time.
“I think it’s a great thing to do a program like this with the full-blown Chicago Symphony,” says Palumbo. “I think it’s fabulous. When they first presented it to me they said, ‘You don’t have to do it. If you want to have an assistant prepare this,’ or something like that. But I said, ‘No way! Of course I want to do this.’
“When I was in Boston, I had a chorus called the Chorus Pro Musica and we did a Christmas program every year. We performed at the St. Botolph Club, the Harvard Club, the Old South Church. I haven’t done a Christmas program since I started getting into opera before I came to Lyric Opera. [Palumbo was chorus master at Lyric Opera from 1991-2007 and at the Metropolitan Opera from 2007-2024. ] I haven’t done a Christmas program like this in that long. I am thrilled to do this, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
One of the pieces Palumbo suggested was the finale of Daniel Pinkham’s “Christmas Cantata.”
“We’re doing the ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo.’ I knew Danny Pinkham. He actually was commissioned to compose something for the Chorus Pro Musica while I was there. For me to go back to the ‘Christmas Cantata,’ I’m really looking forward to it.
“And we’re doing a piece by Margaret Bonds from ‘The Ballad of the Brown King.’ I think that’s an interesting and important piece to do, quite frankly. It’s the last movement from that piece. It’s charming. It’s different. And it shows what a Black female composer was doing musically at that time. I’m so glad we’ve worked it in.
“And the Robert Shaw ‘The Many Moods of Christmas’ selections, they’re so well known and done a lot. We’re doing one of those. And then you’ve got a lot of carols. I’m sold on this program. I’m really looking forward to it.”
December 19-23, Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, 220 South Michigan, cso.org.
Music of the Baroque, Handel’s “Messiah”
Those who have experienced Music of the Baroque music director Dame Jane Glover leading Chicagoans in the “Hallelujah” Chorus, from a boat on the Chicago River in front of the Merchandise Mart at Chicago Water Music over the last two Septembers, are not likely to forget the experience. Last summer, Glover led the first-ever Handel’s “Messiah” at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. Closer to Christmas, Glover is conducting Handel’s “Messiah” with the New York Philharmonic. In both cases, she requested that the Music of the Baroque Chorus—which Glover describes as “one of the best in the business”—join her. Only in Chicago, however, will there be the opportunity to experience Glover leading the entire Music of the Baroque Orchestra and Chorus together in Handel’s masterpiece. An all-star roster of vocal soloists will include soprano Yulia Van Doren, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Miles Mykkanen and Grammy Award-winning baritone Will Liverman, with Cooke and Liverman making their Music of the Baroque debuts.
November 30, 2pm, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Boulevard, Skokie; November 30, 7:30pm, Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, 220 South Michigan, baroque.org.
Chicago Philharmonic and Sleeping at Last/Photo: Todd Rosenberg Photography
Sleeping at Last and the Chicago Philharmonic, Home for the Holidays
Indie singer-songwriter Sleeping at Last, aka the moniker of producer, composer and Wheaton native Ryan O’Neal, whose music has been featured in over a hundred films, shows and commercials and has been streamed over five billion times across platforms, will perform with the Chicago Philharmonic and Chicago Chamber Choir at The Auditorium. This is a much-anticipated Christmas follow-up to the two-night sold-out collaboration of Sleeping at Last and the Chicago Philharmonic at the Harris Theater in 2024, followed by a sold-out Carnegie Hall debut. The program will include world-premiere arrangements of Sleeping at Last holiday music along with favorites from the Sleeping at Last non-holiday catalog. Chicago Philharmonic artistic director and principal conductor Scott Speck conducts.
Saturday, November 29, 7pm, The Auditorium, 50 East Ida B. Wells Drive, auditoriumtheatre.org.
Dennis Polkow is an award-winning veteran journalist, critic, author, broadcaster and educator. He made his stage debut at age five, was a child art prodigy and began playing keyboards in clubs at the age of fourteen. He holds degrees in music theory, composition, religious studies and philosophy from DePaul University in Chicago. Polkow spent his early years performing and recording in rock and jazz bands while concertizing as a classical pianist, organist and harpsichordist and composing, arranging and producing for other artists. As a scholar, Polkow has published and lectured extensively and taught at several colleges and universities in various departments. As an actor, narrator and consultant, Polkow has been involved with numerous films, plays, broadcasts and documentaries. As a journalist, Polkow helped co-create the experiential Chicago Musicale and Spotlight, the award-winning tabloid arts and entertainment section of the Press Publications chain of newspapers, which he later edited. He also created and ran the nationally recognized journalism program at Oakton College and was faculty advisor to its award-winning student newspaper; many former students went on to major media careers, including Channel Awesome’s the Nostalgia Critic. Polkow’s research, interviews, features, reviews and commentaries have appeared across national and international media and he has corresponded from the Middle East, Asia and Africa for the Chicago Tribune. Contact: dpolkow25@aol.com
