Ringing In the Holidays From Montauk to Sag Harbor
If you are looking for some holiday cheer of the musical variety in the coming weeks, there are quite a few events to put you in the spirit of the season. Concerts and sing-alongs are planned in wineries, restaurants, churches, and theaters. From popular standards to classical, jazz to rock, and, of course, carols, something for every taste is on offer.
Right after Thanksgiving, the music begins with a lighthearted evening that benefits a good cause. “Our Fabulous Variety Show Presents: A Holiday Cabaret,” with Christmas carol parodies and skits, will feature WBAZ’s Walker Vreeland tomorrow and Danny Ximo of the Raffa Show on Saturday. Proceeds will benefit Hugs in Westhampton, a not-for-profit organization that provides drug and alcohol prevention programs and workshops for middle and high school students. Both events are at Guild Hall in East Hampton at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $55, available at the Our Fabulous Variety Show website.
Beginning on Friday, Dec. 4, the company will present four performances of “A Spectacular Christmas Carol” with more dancing and singing. The shows are set for Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30, with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2.
An evening of chamber music, piano, and opera will be presented on Sunday at 4 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s Hoie Hall in East Hampton. Bobby Peterson, Joy Jones, and Josh Redman are the performers. A free-will offering has been suggested.
Zum Schneider, a German restaurant in Montauk, will close its season with Adventssingen on Dec. 5 from 3 to 7 p.m. The celebration will include a community sing-along of German and American carols with Benjamin and Sylvester on the guitar and hammered dulcimer, accompanied by Mama Schneider’s stolen (cake) and weihnachtsgeback (pastries and cookies). All this for no cover charge.
With a little twist on the usual lighting of the tree, Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack will have a lighting of the vines on Dec. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m., with holiday jazz, a wreath auction, hors d’oeuvres, wine, hard cider, and mulled wine. Proceeds will benefit Fighting Chance, a free cancer counseling center. Admission is $75, $35 for children under 6.
Handbells will ring the tunes on Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. as the Harbor Bells perform will benefit St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor. A free-will offering will benefit the Sag Harbor Food Pantry.
“A Rose in Winter,” the title of the Choral Society of the Hamptons concert on Dec. 6, is also a medieval symbol for the nativity. The featured work is Respighi’s “Laud to the Nativity,” which, when composed in 1930, hearkened back to earlier styles of music, some of which will be heard in other shorter works (such as medieval English carols and a polychoral work by Gabrieli) that will fill out the program. Tickets for either the 3 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. concert at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church are $30, $35 at the door, or $10 and $15 for youth under 18, at 204-9402 or on the society’s website.
Those who are looking for Hanukkah cheer will find music and songs at two events on the South Fork on Dec. 6. At Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor, there will be a bazaar, music, latkes, and dreidel games at 3 p.m. A menorah lighting will take place in Kirk Park in Montauk with Hanukkah songs, doughnuts, and cocoa, also at 3 p.m.
For dance lovers, the season may not be complete without “The Nutcracker.” The Hampton Ballet Theatre School will give its seventh annual production of the holiday classic at Guild Hall on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m., Dec. 12 at 1 and 7, and Dec. 13 at 2. Tickets are $25, $20 for children under 12 in advance, or $30 and $25 on the day of performance, with premium or group seating available.
The Metropolitan Opera’s popular Live in HD series will present Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” with its elements of fairy tale, comedy, and romance, on Dec. 19. Tickets for the 1 p.m. event at Guild Hall in East Hampton are $22, $20 members, $15 students.
And just in time for Christmas, Bay Street Theater will hold a holiday party and sing-along on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. Don Duga, the creator of “Frosty the Snowman,” will introduce the program. He will discuss animation and his years as part of Rankin, Bass, the producers of several classic Christmas cartoons. Families will have the opportunity to be drawn as caricatures with Frosty. Rick Unterberg, who has been performing at the Townhouse piano bar in New York City since its founding, will lead the sing-along. Tickets are $15 for the sing-along and $30 for the caricature and sing-along together and can be purchased at the Bay Street box office or website.