From December 2022
December means one thing to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra: ’tis the busiest season.
Music is the quickest way to get in the festive spirit, and for many around Dallas, that requires a trip to the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The DSO is happy to oblige, with a packed schedule of performances headlined by its traditional Christmas Pops program. The orchestra and guest conductor Lawrence Loh will be joined by singers Craig Verm and Jasmine Habersham, the Dallas Symphony Chorus, and the Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus for 11 shows of holiday standards (Dec. 2–11).
Along with Christmas Pops, The Nutcracker (Nov. 25–27), and a one-night-only appearance by the visiting Canadian Brass ensemble (Dec. 5), there will be live-to-picture score performances of 1990’s Home Alone (Dec. 16–18). The DSO has been doing these screenings for about a decade now. It’s a different way to experience a film that has a three-decade run of Christmas viewings under its belt. Your inner child deserves a gift, too.
If you’re looking for a smoother pace, the symphony is hosting a performance from the a capella group Naturally 7 (Dec. 20) in partnership with The Black Academy of Arts and Letters. “You have a diversity of people who don’t know anything about The Black Academy that will now know,” says Curtis King, the founder and president of TBAAL. “But you also have a number of people from my audience that don’t know anything about the symphony.”
The Naturally 7 gig is part of a series King put together for that reason, called Jazz at Symphony Center. The aim is to have five jazz-centered shows at the Meyerson throughout the year. The series is now going into its third season. “It’s a genuine partnership that’s created by two very well-established institutions,” King says.
With so many events on the books, you would think there would be a lot of pressure. But Nathan Lutz, the DSO’s director of operations, says they feel nothing but a strong sense of pride at being a part of the holiday tradition for so many.
“There are a lot of people in the Dallas area that the Christmas concert will be their only Dallas Symphony concert of the year,” Lutz says. “And, of course, we want to change that, but that certainly does make it more special.”
This story originally appeared in the December issue of D Magazine with the headline, “Deck the Hall.” Write to [email protected].