Holiday Event Highlights

The holidays are upon us, so the ArtsNews team rounded up its top Holiday Arts Picks from a long list of festive offerings. For more arts events, flip to the calendar section on page A30 and sign up for ArtsWestchester’s weekly Top 5 Arts Picks newsletter.

Holiday Film Screenings:

12/4: The Polar Express at Bedford Playhouse
12/17 & 12/22: White Christmas at Jacob Burns Film Center
12/22: A Look Inside It’s a Wonderful Life at New Rochelle Public Library (Virtual)
12/23: It’s a Wonderful Life at The Picture House

Through Jan. 8, 2023 | The Great Holiday Train Show
New Castle Historical Society’s annual The Great Holiday Train Show is full steam ahead. Vintage train sets will run throughout the festively decorated 19th-century former residence of Horace Greeley. This season’s holiday display will feature a room dedicated to the New York Central Railroad. The holiday tradition also includes a pop-up shop with train memorabilia and treats.

December 2 & 4 (New Choral Society)
December 10 & 11 (Taconic Opera)
Messiah
The New Choral Society and Taconic Opera will celebrate the season with performances of Handle’s Messiah. This Baroque-era masterpiece, acclaimed for the famous Hallelujah chorus, is a holiday staple. The New Choral Society’s rendition will include Part I with selections of Parts II and III, and will feature soloists from the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera. The Taconic Opera will be performing this holiday classic for the first time, accompanied by a full orchestra.

December 3-18 | Tarrytown Music Hall’s Holiday Season
This season’s holiday concert calendar at the Tarrytown Music Hall will feature an array of holiday music for all audiences, making the Hall a Westchester holiday hub. Children’s favorite The Laurie Berkner Band will bring in the season with Christmas, Hanukkah and winter-themed songs (12/3); a holiday market presents a curated shopping event that features products from local and regional artists and makers (12/4); Judy Collins will perform a selection of her holiday favorites and other hit songs (12/9); Irish-American group Cherish the Ladies brings Celtic carols and step-dancing to the stage on 12/10; Glenn Miller Orchestra perform holiday favorites and classics from the Big Band Songbook (12/15); The Vienna Boys Choir will present “Christmas in Vienna,” for which they will perform classical and popular carols (12/16); singer Darlene Love, known as the lead singer of ‘60s band The Blossoms before blossoming into a successful solo career, will present “Love for the Holidays” (12/17); and New York Theatre Ballet performs an hour-long production of The Nutcracker, created for younger audiences (12/18).

December 4 | Songs of the Season Holiday Show

The Westchester Chordsmen presents its annual holiday concert presented at the Rye Presbyterian Church. The chorus, formed by 40 male singers, will perform holiday favorites in a four-part a cappella.

December 4-18 (Historic Hudson Valley)
December 9-23 (Lyndhurst)
A Christmas Carol, a Retelling

M&M Performing Arts Center and Historic Hudson Valley will each present Charles Dickens’s classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol. At Lyndhurst, Mr. Dickens Tells a Christmas Carol will bring the journey of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim to life as actor Michael Muldoon recreates a famous 1867 performance tour during which Dickens performed a telling of the story. The Historic Hudson Valley’s Dickens’s ‘Christmas Carol’ performances will take place at the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow, where master storyteller Jonathan Kruk channels ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future with his adaptation of the story, complete with musical accompaniment.

December 7 | Holiday Cabaret
Downtown Music at Grace will provide a midday respite via a holiday program with cabaret singer Kimberly Hawkey. Hawkey is known for her crystalline voice and captures a piece of the past through song. Her holiday performance will include timeless holiday favorites along with original songs.

December 10 | Calmus: an A-Capella Ensemble
German a cappella ensemble Calmus will celebrate the season with two performances at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. Calmus’s holiday program will combine its rich, full-bodied vocals with contemporary Christmas favorites, such as Edward Hugh Martin’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and earlier music like the 14th-Century carol Resonet in laudibus.

December 11 | Concert for Peace
Guests at the Songcatchers’ annual Concert for Peace can sing along with the group’s Concert Choir and Ensemble. The concert will include secular and interfaith carols, multicultural holiday songs and songs of peace suitable for the whole family. At the Ursuline School Auriana Theater in New Rochelle.

December 11 | Central Park Dance’s The Nutcracker
Central Park Dance returns to The Capitol Theatre for this season’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. The holiday performance will feature more than 100 of the company’s dancers, who will portray main character Clara’s suspenseful and joyous journey through ballerina blizzards and giant mice that lead to a land of sweets and holiday magic.

Beginning December 12 | Grab & Go Holiday Craft Kits
White Plains Public Library will offer an assortment of “Grab & Go Kits” for several upcoming holidays, which include all the supplies needed for holiday craft-making. The kits, geared toward children in Kindergarten through 3rd grade, are available in the library lobby while supplies last. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Shabe Yalda kits will be available beginning Dec. 12; Christmas and Feliz Navidad kits beginning Dec. 17. The library also offers several holiday storytime events.

December 16 & 17 | Rob Mathes Holiday Concert
Greenwich, Connecticut native Rob Mathes comes home for the holidays this winter. Mathes will embrace the spirit of the season at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. Alongside his band and a chorus full of friends, he will treat guests to an evening of holiday classics and original tunes.

About ArtsWestchester

For more than 50 years, ArtsWestchester has been the community’s connection to the arts. Founded in 1965, it is the largest private not-for-profit arts council in New York State. Its mission is to create an equitable, inclusive, vibrant and sustainable Westchester County in which the arts are integral to and integrated into every facet of life. ArtsWestchester provides programs and services that enrich the lives of everyone in Westchester County. ArtsWestchester helps fund concerts, exhibitions and plays through grants; brings artists into schools and community centers; advocates for the arts; and builds audiences through diverse marketing initiatives. In 1998, ArtsWestchester purchased the nine-story neo-classical bank building at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue which has since been transformed into a multi-use resource for artists, cultural organizations and the community. A two-story gallery is located on the first floor of ArtsWestchester’s historic building on Mamaroneck Avenue. artsw.org