The Palmer House Hilton Hosts TUBACHRISTMAS, a Beloved Holiday Tradition

The Palmer House Hilton Hotel, 17 E. Monroe Street, welcomes back Chicago’s annual holiday favorite TUBACHRISTMAS, Grand and State Ballrooms, fourth floor, Saturday, Dec. 19 at 12:30 p.m. Nearly 400 tuba and euphonium musicians of all ages dash through the snow to bring Christmas cheer to the crowds gathered at the Palmer House. TUBACHRISTMAS is free to the public. Guests attending the event must claim a wristband at the fourth floor check-in desk to determine the time they may enter the Grand and State Ballrooms. Wristband distribution begins at 8 a.m.* The Palmer House requests that audience members bring a donation of a non-perishable food item for the Chicago Food Depository. In addition to the festivities happening in the ballrooms, Lockwood Restaurant & Bar, Potter’s and the bar located in the Palmer House’s historic lobby will be serving holiday themed beverages available for purchase throughout the holiday season.

Originally performed in 1974 at New York’s Rockefeller Center, TUBACHRISTMAS is an annual Christmas concert made up of exclusively tuba and euphonium musicians. Created by Indiana University’s Distinguished Professor of Music, Harvey Phillips, known as the “Paganini” of the Tuba, this holiday tradition is in honor of his teacher/mentor, the late tubist musician William J. Bell, who was born on Christmas Day, 1902 and the late American composer Alec Wilder, who arranged the music for the first TUBACHRISTMAS, who died on Christmas Eve, 1980. Since 1974, TUBACHRISTMAS has been a holiday tradition throughout the world. For more than 25 years, the Palmer House has annually hosted the congregation of tuba and euphonium musicians. The current location in the Grand and State Ballrooms is indicative of the size of the orchestra and audience attending this treasured event.

The Palmer House is also collecting donations for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a nonprofit food distribution and training center that provides food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in the community