Holiday season is upon us, and there’s no better way to enjoy its joyous cheer than by hearing its time-honored music. From the Miami City Ballet’s take on the stern marches and delicate dances of “The Nutcracker” to the Blind Boys of Alabama’s intricate harmonies on Christmas ballads like “Do You Hear What I Hear,” here are just a handful of holiday-themed and family-friendly performances heading to South Florida throughout the month of December.
A Christmas Tribute to Andrea Bocelli
Dec. 17, 2023
Aventura Arts & Cultural Center
For some music lovers, there’s no sound that encapsulates the Christmas spirit quite as magically as Italian singer Andrea Bocelli’s rich tenor. Fortunately for South Florida audiences, “A Christmas Tribute to Andrea Bocelli” – heading to Aventura Arts & Cultural Center this December – promises to pull out all the holiday classics from Bocelli’s time-honored catalog.
Vocalist Franco Corso will lead his band in renditions of “Silent Night,” “Ave Maria,” “White Christmas” and “I Believe,” among others. Corso, who sings both tenor and baritone, hails from a town along the Italian Riviera not far from where Bocelli’s own career launched in the 1990s, when he won the Sanremo Music Festival’s newcomer category with a performance of “Il mare calmo della sera.”
Tickets are $42-52 at Ticketmaster.com.
Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show
(Jim Herrington)
Blind Boys of Alabama are bringing its Christmas tour to South Florida.
Dec. 17, 2023
Adrienne Arsht Center Knight Concert Hall
Blind Boys of Alabama helped redefine the gospel sound for a new generation nearly 80 years ago when its members combined traditional spirituals and hymns with elements of jazz and the blues. Today, the long-standing group honored by the Gospel Music Hall of Fame continues to break down any boundaries attempting to confine the musical genre. Get lost in BBA’s soul-stirring vocal harmonies when it visits the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
In this show, the group will center Christmas anthems from its Grammy-winning 2004 album “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” as well as numbers spanning centuries of history like the spiritual “Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn” and Bing Crosby’s Cold War-era classic, “Do You Hear What I Hear,” both featured on BBA’s 2014 collaboration with blues musician Taj Mahal, “Talkin’ Christmas.” Since the group debuted its Christmas tour two decades ago, the ensemble has performed it at sold-out halls across the United States.
BBA member Ricky McKinnie says he believes his group’s nearly century-spanning staying power is a testament to the ability of a well-sung melody to positively impact hearts and minds. The group has performed at benefits for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and at the White House for three presidents. This illustrious history is chronicled in BBA’s upcoming book “Spirit of A Century: Our Own Story,” which will be published in March 2024.
“We’ve performed all over the world, drawing people from all walks of life and all ethnic groups. What’s from the heart enriches the heart – that’s what we do.” McKinnie said.
Admission is free, but a first-access pass is required. Passes available beginning Nov. 29 at ArshtCenter.org.
LeAnn Rimes’ Joy: The Holiday Tour
(Courtesy of the Artist)
Pop and country songstress LeAnn Rimes will share Christmas cheer with Arsht Center audiences.
Dec. 21, 2023
Adrienne Arsht Center
Knight Concert Hall
Ever since she captured the hearts of America’s country music fans with her debut single, “Blue,” released when she was just 13 years old, LeAnn Rimes has maintained her position as a reigning queen of popular music.
The two-time Grammy-winning vocalist – who became the first country artist to take home artist of the year honors at the Billboard Music Awards when she was 15 – returns to South Florida this month to close out her eight-date “Joy: The Holiday Tour,” gracing stages across the Southeast and Las Vegas. This performance features both traditional Christmas tunes and original songs from Rimes’ expansive catalog, which contains several holiday albums like 2015’s “Today Is Christmas” and 2004’s “What A Wonderful World.”
Tickets are $45-125 at ArshtCenter.org.
Nu Deco Ensemble
(Alex Markow)
Miami’s Nu Deco Ensemble will present a genre-bending performance featuring operatic baritone Will Liverman and soul band St. Paul & the Broken Bones.
Dec. 15, 2023
Adrienne Arsht Center
Knight Concert Hall
Miami’s own Nu Deco Ensemble nearly broke the internet this autumn when a clip of the orchestra performing an arrangement of Atlanta hip-hop group Outkast’s “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” went viral on Instagram and TikTok. South Florida audiences can witness the ensemble’s genre-bending magic in person this month when it hosts a performance at the Arsht Center featuring updated Christmas classics and a tribute to the queen of rock ’n’ roll, not to mention never-before-heard collaborations with other nationally renowned musicians.
Jacomo Bairos, conductor, co-founder and artistic director of Nu Deco Ensemble, says this show’s eclectic program – which includes a reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s century-old ballet “The Nutcracker” and a suite dedicated to the memory and legacy of Tina Turner – aptly exemplifies the mission of this musical group: unite and enrich all fans of music through live performance.
“‘Nu Nutcracker’ takes a monumental masterpiece and transforms it into a mix of cool jazz, rock and funk fused with classical traditions we love,” Bairos said. “We believe all styles of music deserve to be celebrated and we enjoy combining them in new, compelling ways.”
Nu Deco’s performance will also see the orchestra collaborating across genres with both operatic baritone Will Liverman and St. Paul & the Broken Bones, an eight-piece soul band hailing from Birmingham, Ala.
“Both artists are incredibly creative and come from wildly different backgrounds,” Bairos explained. “This is what makes this performance special: tying in these two distinct artists and their music through the symphonic sounds of the modern orchestra. The audience will take this journey with us, and they’ll get to run the whole range of musical emotions and depth that this music can provide.”
Tickets are $35-115 at ArshtCenter.org.
Miami City Ballet
(Alexander Iziliaev)
Miami City Ballet will perform its time-honored classic, George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker.”
George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker”
Dec. 15-24, 2023
Adrienne Arsht Center
Ziff Ballet Opera House
South Floridians may never wake up to a snowy, white Christmas, but there’s plenty of traditional cheer in which to immerse ourselves during Miami City ‘s production of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker.” MCB first staged this world-famous version of Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet in 2017; each year since, audiences have returned in droves to marvel at the more than 100 dancers who twirl and glide across the stage to beloved musical passages like “The March of the Nutcracker” and “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”
Tickets are $43-169 at ArshtCenter.org.