Orchestras, choirs, ballets and other ensembles are preparing for their holiday seasons, offering a combination of traditional fare - such as Handel’s Messiah or Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker - as well as new or lesser-heard works. A Tempo host Rachel Katz checks in this week with three ensembles about their plans.
The program will include an interview with The Dessoff Choirs Music Director Malcolm Merriweather, who was also recently appointed to lead the newly created New York Philharmonic Chorus, about Dessoff’s holiday concerts; a conversation with Frank Giordano, President of The Philly Pops, which will be presenting its last set of holiday specials as it prepares to shut down after its Spring performances amid financial pressures; and an excerpt from an earlier conversation with Houston Grand Opera Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers about El Milagro del Recuerdo, a mariachi opera it first performed in 2019 that has become a local favorite.