​The Newberry Consort Presents 'A Mexican Christmas' Dec. 2-5

CHICAGO — After missing a year due to the pandemic, The Newberry Consort is pleased to return to live performances with its annual holiday tradition, the popular “A Mexican Christmas” concert.

“A Mexican Christmas” transports audiences back to 17th-century Mexico City at Christmas time, as a cast of nearly 30 musicians recreates the glorious singing of cloistered nuns soaring over the walls of their convent and filling the square, and a street band plays villancicos — joyful folk music of praise and celebration. The concerts will take place Dec. 2, 3, and 5 in Chicago’s River West neighborhood, Little Village neighborhood, and Evanston.

This sumptuous program will once again feature a choir of women’s voices, directed by Ellen Hargis, singing the music of the convent, as well as musicians from EnsAmble Ad-Hoc, a group that specializes in Latin American and Spanish early music led by specialists Francy Acosta and Jose Luis Posada. These musicians will create the rich, jubilant folk music that would have been heard in the plazas at Christmas.

The music is from both Old and New Spain and features villancicos by Juan de Padilla from the Puebla Cathedral Archives, as well as treasures from many other manuscripts, researched and edited by the Newberry Consort’s artistic directors. Exuberant singing and rarely heard instruments including the bajón (Spanish baroque bassoon), leona (large guitar from Veracruz) and the quijada de burro (a percussion instrument made from a donkey’s jawbone), will bring the soundscape of a Mexican Christmas to Chicago.

Performances are Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, and on Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. at the Mother of the Americas Parish in Chicago. A pre-concert chat will be held 30 minutes before each concert. Tickets are $50.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

A Mexican Christmas

• Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021 at 8 p.m.
  St. John Cantius Church, 825 Carpenter St., Chicago
  Tickets $50
  
• Friday, Dec. 3, 2021 at 8 p.m.
  St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman Ave., Evanston
  Tickets $50
  
• Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 at 3 p.m.
  Mother of the Americas Parrish, 2226 S. Whipple St., Chicago
  Tickets $50

Tickets available at https://www.newberryconsort.org.

About the Newberry Consort:

Directed by David Douglass, Newberry Musician-in-Residence, and early music diva Ellen Hargis, the Newberry Consort plumbs the Newberry Library’s vast music collection and assembles a star-studded roster of local and international artists to bring you world-class performances of music from the 13th to the 18th centuries…and occasionally beyond! Affiliated with the Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies, the Consort also serves as an ensemble-in-residence at Northwestern University. In addition to an annual concert series in Chicago, the Consort has an active touring schedule.