Our beloved holiday tradition returns!

This December, The Newberry Consort returns to its roots with a new program of festive holiday music from Mexico.

Curated by Newberry Consort Artistic Director Liza Malamut in collaboration with musicologists Paul Feller-Simmons and Ireri Chavez-Bárcenas, this program will feature joyous villancicos and lush sacred polyphony from the convent and cathedral of Puebla, Mexico for voices, winds, plucked instruments, and percussion.

The concerts will feature sights and sounds for everyone. A one-to-a-part women’s choir featuring Estelí Gomez, Salomé Sandovál, Lucía Mier y Teran Romero, Gabrielle Timofeeva López, and Victoria Marshall sings the beautiful polyphony of the Puebla convent, joined by Newberry Consort fan favorites Matthew Dean and Eric Miranda for the large-scale cathedral music.

The singers are joined by a fabulous Baroque band featuring Dušan Balarin and William Simms (guitars, vihuela, theorbo), Rachel Begley (bajón, recorders), Andrés Guzman and Liza Malamut (sackbuts), Anna Steinhoff (viola da gamba), Javier Saume Mazzei (percussion), and Jacob Reed (chamber organ).

The concert also features a beautiful backdrop of historical imagery and bilingual translations by Newberry Consort projection artist and historian Shawn Keener. A pre-concert discussion panel will be led by artistic director Liza Malamut and musicologists Paul Feller-Simmons and Ireri Chavez-Bárcenas.

Friday, December 4, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church
4220 N Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60613
Pre-concert talk at 6:45 PM

Saturday, December 5, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Galvin Hall at Northwestern University
70 Arts Cir Dr, Evanston, IL 60208
Pre-concert talk at 3:15 PM

Sunday, December 6, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Murphy Auditorium at The Richard H. Driehaus Museum
50 E Erie St, Chicago, IL 60611
Pre-concert talk at 3:15 PM