In my continuing series of performing arts programming available through the end of the year, I offer my Classical Music Bets Bets for the Holidays.
The list begins with performances that have specific dates and start times. After those listings are performances you can discover at your leisure with their end dates included.
Here are my Classical Best Bets for the Holidays:
Bang on a Can Marathon 2020 – December 22nd – January 1st
For classical music fans who like very contemporary composition, you won’t want to miss this marathon streaming of all 90+ performances that were part of the four Bang on a Can Marathons this year.
Bang on a Can’s marathon presented 31 world premieres during their online festivals held in May, June, August and October of this year. If you didn’t catch the marathons as they happened, you ordinarily wouldn’t get a second chance to view them. Now you can.
You can also catch all of the other performances which include pianist/composer Vijay Iyer; works by John Adams, Philip Glass, Ted Hearne, Missy Mazzoli and Steve Reich; pianists Jeremy Denk and Conrad Tao; composer/musician Tyshawn Sorey and dozens more. The complete list is on the event’s website.
There is no charge to view these performances. However, Bang on a Can is encouraging donations.
New York String Orchestra – Carnegie Hall – December 24th – 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST
A fifty-year traditions continues with this popular Christmas eve concert that finds the young musicians of the New York String Orchestra performing with established soloists. This year they are joined by pianist Emanuel Ax.
Jaime Loredo conducts. Not much is known about the program, but half-a-century of this tradition means they must be on to something. There’s no charge to watch this concert.
Peter and the Wolf – Teatro alla Scala – December 25th – 5:00 AM EST/2:00 AM PST
You’ll have to be up late or get up early if you want to experience this Christmas Day concert from Milan’s legendary Teatro alla Scala, but it will be worth it. And for those restless kids eager to see what Santa brought them, they’ll enjoy this, too.
Eun Sun Kim leads the La Scala Orchestra in a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Mozart’s Concerto in A Major K. 622 for clarinet and orchestra will also be played with Fabrizio Meloni on bass clarinet.
Illustrations are part of the presentation of Peter and the Wolf.
The concert will stream on Teatro alla Scala’s website and also on their Facebook and YouTube channels.
Salute to Vienna and Budapest New Year’s Concert – December 27th – January 3rd
In a newly-filmed concert in Europe, operettas and waltzes are on the program. This Salute to Vienna and Budapest has been annual tradition for 25 years.
The concert has three premiere performances on December 27th: 5:30 PM EST/2:30 PM PST; 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST and 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST.
Tickets are $20 and that allows for re-streaming the concert to your heart’s content through January 3rd.
United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America – PBS Great Performances – December 31st
In this concert airing on PBS soprano Jamie Barton, violinist Joshua Bell, opera singers Renée Fleming and Denyce Graves, Josh Groban, Juanes, R&B legend Patti LaBelle, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell, 6-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet perform. The theme is celebrating Americans and their strength that has been required of us all throughout 2020.
The concert was filmed at Mount Vernon and the Kennedy Center and opens with LaBelle singing Lady Marmalade. She also closes the concert and everything in between is a total delight.
As with all PBS programming, check your local listings for exact broadcast times.
The Carnival of the Animals & Eine kleine Nachtmusik – Teatro alla Scala – January 1st – 5:00 AM EST/2:00 AM PST
Once again, the early riser or night owl will be able to watch this concert from Milan’s Teatro alla Scala.
As with their Christmas Day concert, Eun Sun Kim leads the La Scala orchestra. On the program are Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals and Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
The concert will stream on Teatro alla Scala’s website and also on their Facebook and YouTube channels.
Live with Carnegie Hall at Home – Carnegie Hall – Available now
If you haven’t taken a look at Carnegie Hall’s Live with series, luckily it’s still available for streaming. Amongst their guests during the year have been The Kronos Quartet, a celebration of violinist Isaac Stern; pianist Daniil Trifonov; pianist Emanuel Ax; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; violinist Joshua Bell and more.
Each program runs approximately one hour. There are also sessions with opera singers, Broadway stars, folk singers, conductors, world music singers and cabaret stars.
While you’re there you might want to check out their 2020 Opening Night Gala which combines new interviews and performances with archival footage from the venerable hall’s long history.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Watch & Listen – LA Phil – Available now
In addition to their Sound/Stage performances (click on the link built into Sound/Stage to read details on that series), the Los Angeles Philharmonic has a lot more to discover on their website.
Amongst the highlights are pianist Yuja Wang performing the first movement of John Adams’ Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? from a November 2019 concert; Thomas Ades’ Darkness Visible performed by LA Phil pianist Joanna Pearce Martin; timpanist Joseph Pereria performing Magnificent Obsession, a piece he wrote inspired by Buzz Aldrin’s experience on the moon; violinist Gabriela Peña-Kim performing Eugène Ysaÿe’s Obsession and more.
There’s plenty to entertain you and there’s no charge to watch the videos. If you haven’t watched Sound/Stage, I strongly encourage you to do so.
Handel’s Messiah – Oratorio Society of New York – Now – January 10th
Every year since 1874 the Oratorio Society of New York has performed the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah for the holidays. In spite of the pandemic, they are presenting a virtual version to keep that tradition alive.
Kent Tritle conducts chorus, orchestra, and soloists Susanna Phillips, Heather Petrie, Joshua Blue, and Sidney Outlaw in a safely-performed and filmed concert.
Oratorio Society of New York received a Grammy nomination earlier this year for Best Choral Performance for their recording Sanctuary Road.
There is no charge to watch this performance.
Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus – The Philharmonia Orchestra of London – Available Now
In February of this year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had one of their most exciting concerts when Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon McBurney and Gerard McBurney collaborated on The Weimar Republic: Salonen Conducts The Seven Deadly Sins.
Salonen and Gerard McBurney have once again collaborated on a concert. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London is performing Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus.
Most concertgoers are familiar with the work’s overture; far fewer are familiar with the complete score Beethoven composed for this ballet that had its world premiere in Vienna in 1801.
McBurney has written a new script for this concert. There will be animation by Hillary Leben whose work has been seen in performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Silk Road Ensemble and more.
When you add that the narration will be performed by Stephen Fry, what else do you need?
The link takes you directly to The Philharmonia Orchestra of London’s YouTube page where this performance can be seen for free.
Throughline: San Francisco Symphony From Hall to Home – San Francisco Symphony – Now available
This ambitious and exciting concert features performances of works by John Adams, Ludwig van Beethoven, Kev Choice, Ellen Reid and presents the world premiere of Throughline by Nico Muhly.
Joining Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for this program are soprano Julia Bullock; composer/guitarist Bryce Dessner; Muhly on piano and conducting; bassist Esperanza Spalding and more.
Reid’s Fear/Release opens the nearly one-hour program. That is followed by Adams’ Shaking and Trembling from Shaker Loops; Movements by Choice; Beethoven’s Allegro con brio from String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Opus 95 and the concert concludes with Throughline.
There is no charge to watch this concert.
Jeremy Denk Recital – 92nd Street Y – Now available
If you didn’t get a chance to see pianist Jeremy Denk‘s recital from Caramoor in October, he’s performed the same program from New York’s 92nd Street Y earlier this month and it is still available for streaming.
The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s The Battle of Manassas; Joplin/Chauvin’s Heliotrope Bouquet; Tania León’s Ritual; Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.
You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?
Tickets are $15.
Those are my dozen recommendations for Classical Music Best Bets for the Holidays. I also have recommendations for Dance, Jazz and Musicals/Cabaret if you want even more choices.
Enjoy the music and the season.
Photo: Yosemite Trees (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)