Name: Family Christmas Pops
Start: 2025-12-13T11:00:00
Location: Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

Embrace the spirit of music this season with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's array of spellbinding performances. From the delightful 'Home Alone in Concert' and the festive 'Family Christmas Pops' to the soul-stirring 'Dallas Symphony Children's Chorus Spring Recital' and the monumental 'Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand', each event offers a unique experience that promises to captivate audiences of all ages. These events not only highlight the incredible talent within the orchestra but also create an atmosphere of joy and reflection, making them perfect for cherished family outings.

A Symphony of Sights and Sounds: Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Captivating Season

This season, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra brings an exciting lineup of performances that promise to captivate audiences of all ages. From the charming holiday antics of 'Home Alone in Concert' to the epic grandeur of Mahler’s 'Symphony of a Thousand', these events showcase a wide array of musical talent and creativity. Join us at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center for unforgettable experiences, including festive family gatherings, choral showcases, and orchestral masterpieces, all orchestrated by some of the most renowned conductors and performers.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra: A Season of Spectacular Performances

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is set to captivate audiences with a series of unforgettable events this 2025-2026 season. From cinematic classics like 'Home Alone in Concert' to the soul-stirring 'Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand,' and the festive 'Family Christmas Pops,' each event promises a unique experience. With esteemed conductors and talented performers, these concerts at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center are not just performances; they are celebrations of artistic expression and communal joy, perfect for audiences of all ages.

A Symphony of Seasons: Dallas Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 Highlights

This holiday season, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra brings a delightful array of musical events to the city, promising a symphonic experience that resonates with joy and tradition. From the whimsical notes of 'Home Alone in Concert' to the spirited 'Family Christmas Pops', each event offers a unique celebration of melodies. The DSO's Children's Chorus Spring Recital showcases young talent, while the grandeur of Mahler’s 'Symphony of a Thousand' takes audiences on an epic journey. Join us as we explore these captivating performances that set the stage for an unforgettable festive season.

Harmonizing the Holidays: A Symphony of Festive Celebrations in Dallas

Lawrence Loh

Jasmine Habersham

Bradley Hunter Welch

Reginald Smith Jr.

Ellie Lin

Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

A true holiday favorite, this beloved comedy classic features renowned composer John Williams’ charming and delightful score performed live to picture by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an 8-year-old boy who’s accidentally left behind when his family leaves for Christmas vacation, and who must defend his home against two bungling thieves.  Hilarious and heart-warming, Home Alone is holiday fun for the entire family!

Home Alone in Concert

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

It’s that wonderful time of the year when families gather and celebrate the holidays with music— and when guest conductor Lawrence Loh, along with two popular vocalists, soprano Jasmine Habersham and baritone Reginald Smith, Jr., return to sing seasonal favorites for the holidays. Making things even more festive are the Dallas Symphony Chorus and Children’s Chorus. And, of course, what would Christmas Pops be without an audience sing-along and an appearance by that Jolly Old Elf, aka Santa Claus! It’s fun for the entire family and sure to create memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Christmas Pops

Bring the whole family to celebrate the most wonderful time of year for one day only at Family Christmas Pops. With conductor Lawrence Loh and vocalists Jasmine Habersham and Reginald Smith, Jr., this special one-hour performance includes classic Christmas carols, pictures with Santa and so much more. Making things even more festive is the Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus. It’s fun for the entire family and sure to create memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Family Christmas Pops

A one-night-only concert at the Meyerson starring the DSO brass, percussion and the Lay Family Concert Organ in an event that says HOLIDAYS! Returning for the third year, this DSO tradition is sure to be festive, joyful and inspiring.

Brassy Christmas

Assistant conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg leads the DSO in this “So long 2025!” and “Hello! 2026” celebratory concert on New Year’s Eve featuring Principal Second Violin, Angela Fuller Heyde. The high-spirited musical revels will include beloved waltzes, polkas, marches, overtures, favorite operetta excerpts, plus a few surprises to help ring in the new year. And you can bet that there’ll be some tunes by Johann Strauss, Jr., whose 200th birthday we celebrate in 2025! So, grab your friends and come party at this unforgettable night with the DSO!

New Year’s Eve

If any opera can break your heart, it surely is Madama Butterfly, the story of an innocent young Japanese girl, who — as her nickname foreshadows — is crushed by one of opera’s most callous cads, naval officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, who promises her a forever love. She is willing to give up her family and her religion to become a good “American” wife. From the ecstatic love duet on their wedding night, to the famous “humming chorus,” as she and her servant Suzuki await Pinkerton’s return, to the anguish of her suicide to preserve her honor — this deeply moving opera will resonate long after the last note has sounded. Performed by a star-studded cast of singers, orchestra and chorus, led by Luisi, a masterful opera conductor, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is this season’s stunning opera in concert.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

The sweeping sonorities of Bruckner’s epic, final symphonic masterpiece unfold and rise sublimely like spires of a grand cathedral, inspiring awe and transporting you to a world with its own conception of time. A devoutly religious man, the composer’s dedication reads: “To the Lord of Lords, to my dear God, my last work, and I hope that He will grant me enough time to complete it and will generously accept my gift.” With this awe-inspiring symphony, he is already standing on the threshold of eternity.

Luisi Conducts Bruckner’s Ninth

Fresh from his wildly successful recent appearance with the DSO, Edward Gardner returns to conduct Holst’s most famous score, with the astrological character of each of the celestial bodies. Each planetary “portrait” reveals a fitting attribute, from Mars’ bellicose hammer blows to the haunting resonances of Neptune, “The Mystic,” with female voices singing wordlessly off stage till they fade away into the great unknown. Walton’s regal hymn of praise was commissioned to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and sung as she made her exit from Westminster Abbey. David Childs, euphonium sensation and brass faculty member of the University of North Texas, solos in the US premiere of a concerto by critically acclaimed Scottish composer James MacMillan, whose music is esteemed “for its rhythmic excitement and powerful emotional communication.”

Holst’s The Planets

Get on your feet and let’s get loud with the greatest hits of the ’90s and ‘OOs Latin pop explosion! La Vida Loca celebrates artists including Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Santana, Ricky Martin and more. Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, world-renowned vocalists Ender Thomas and Jackie Mendez, and multi-GRAMMY® award winners José Sibaja on trumpet and Luisito Quintero on percussion join your orchestra for a high-octane program featuring all-new symphonic arrangements by Lopez-Yañez and Sibaja.

La Vida Loca

Romance your Valentine at the DSO with the impassioned music of Tchaikovsky’s timeless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Tabita Berglund returns to lead the kaleidoscopic Symphonic Dances by the last of the Russian Romantics, Rachmaninoff. It’s his last, and many believe his greatest, work. Listen for the haunting alto saxophone solo, mysterious tubular bells, evocations of Russian Orthodox chants, a thundering Dies irae and a shadowy, eerie waltz. Sphinx alumna Melissa White is in the solo spotlight for the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Sophia Jani’s Violin Concerto.

Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff

You’re invited to Mussorgsky’s musical “gallery crawl,” where you’ll encounter the titular pictures on exhibit, ten in all, plus “traveling music” in-between. Special highlights include the opening “Promenade,” as you stride into the gallery; the whimsical unhatched baby chicks pecking their way out of their shells; spooky Parisian “Catacombs;” and “The Great Gate of Kiev,” shaking you with the resounding pealing of bells in the grand finale. Artist-in-Residence Leonidas Kavakos takes a turn on the podium at this concert and leads our concertmaster in Prokofiev’s Concerto that both sparkles and dances with vibrantly colored passages, ending in a tumultuous flurry of notes.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

What do you do if you’ve had a falling-out with a cherished friend and advisor and want to make amends? Well, if you’re Johannes Brahms and violinist Josef Joachim is your friend, a Double Concerto is the perfect peace offering, expressed in musical language. A give-and-take between violin and cello as they trade phrases and musical gestures full of drama and lyricism, confirming the emotional capital they’ve invested in one another over the decades. Bringing the concerto to life are Chad Hoopes, internationally lauded faculty member of Southern Methodist University, and world-renowned cellist Jan Vogler. Maurice Cohn also leads the first DSO performance of Weill’s Second Symphony, composed in the fraught Post-World-War-I period. The funeral cortège-second movement, says commentator David Drew, is followed by a rondo finale with “marches and counter-marches, and a demented tarantella coda.”

Family Christmas Pops

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