Arizona Philharmonic Presents “A Virtuoso Christmas,” Sunday, Dec. 6

Photo:  Maria Flurry brings a variety of percussion to A Virtuoso Christmas, from tambourine and hand drums to chimes and triangle. Photo credit Don Baltzer.

It’s hard to imagine Christmas without singing. On Sunday, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m., four singers and seven instrumentalists bring Christmas down to chamber scale in “A Virtuoso Christmas” at the Ruth Street Theater. The program brings together Johann Sebastian Bach’s Nativity cantata “Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt,” carols and Christmas favorites, George Frideric Handel’s “Hallelujah” and excerpts from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” most of it arranged for this ensemble by Mathew Lanning.

Custom arrangements for Arizona Philharmonic

Lanning grew up in Prescott Valley and has written for Arizona Philharmonic from Boston, where he lives now. Arizona Philharmonic commissioned the arrangements for earlier Christmas programs, and he has rewritten them for the players on stage this December: soprano, alto, tenor and baritone with flute, oboe, timpani, piano, violin, viola and cello.

“Mat’s arrangements are one thing I really love about this concert, and we are honored to work with him directly. He is an up-and-coming composer who brings beauty and craft to these works,” said Henry Flurry, Arizona Philharmonic artistic director.

The program

Bach’s cantata is the largest work of the afternoon, sung by all of the voices with the entire ensemble. The carols and Christmas favorites that make up the rest of the program are Adolphe Adam’s “O Holy Night,” “Carol of the Bells,” Gustav Holst’s setting of Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter,” Franz Gruber’s “Silent Night,” Peter Cornelius’s “Christbaum,” Charles Gounod’s “Ave Maria” laid over Bach’s first prelude, the Catalan “Fum, Fum, Fum” and the English “The Holly and the Ivy.”

Two works carry tunes more familiar than their titles. Arnold Schoenberg’s “Weihnachtsmusik” is a surprisingly lush romantic work built on “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Vaterland, in deinen Gauen” is the music we sing as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” The five “Nutcracker” excerpts are the Miniature Overture, March, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Russian Dance and Waltz of the Flowers.

The musicians

Every instrumentalist on stage is an Arizona Philharmonic regular. Jeannette Hirasawa Moore plays flute, Mary Simon oboe, Maria Flurry timpani and percussion, Bryn Cannon viola and Wesley Skinner cello, with concertmaster Katherine McLin on violin and Andrew Campbell at the piano. McLin and Campbell, husband and wife, last appeared here in “Dances and Dialogue” in May. Campbell, who directs the ASU Collaborative Piano Program, is also coaching the singers for this program.

The four singers are soprano Nina Garguilo, alto Holly Sheppard, tenor Thomas Strawser and baritone Thommy Long.

Campbell and McLin also lead an OLLI class at Yavapai College, free and open to the public, on Friday, Dec. 4 at 11 a.m.: “Community Chats with AZ Phil: Christmas Music Across the Ages,” with discussion, live performance and a carol sing-along.

“My mother was a choir director, and I have been involved in dozens of Christmas choral events as a singer and pianist, so I have plenty of material,” said Campbell.

“A Virtuoso Christmas” is the third concert of Arizona Philharmonic’s ninth season, “Echoes of the Masters: Old Roads, New Directions.”

Tickets start at $28, with $10 tickets for youth 21 and under and $15 for K-12 teachers with ID. Art4All pay-what-you-can tickets are also available. A $1 fee is added per order, not per ticket. Information and tickets are at AZPhil.org or by calling 855-321-6724. The concert is at Ruth Street Theater, 1050 Ruth Street on the Prescott High School grounds, with a pre-concert talk at 2 p.m.

About Arizona Philharmonic

Founded in 2018, Arizona Philharmonic (AZ Phil) is Prescott’s only professional orchestra focused on classical music, presenting large and small concerts that engage and inspire listeners. In its ninth season in 2026-27, AZ Phil draws musicians from across Arizona and is committed to offering transformative music, while nurturing community participation and supporting the needs and growth of the Prescott-area performing arts scene. Recognized by the Prescott Chamber of Commerce for Excellence in Arts and Culture, Arizona Philharmonic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Ticket information, sponsorship and volunteer opportunities can be found at AZPhil.org or on Facebook.