Merry, Merry Chicago! (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

About This Event

Orchestra Hall dressed for the holidays — carols and seasonal standards with a guest vocalist (Broadway's Mandy Gonzalez this year) instead of a solo classical program, the CSO's own answer to The Nutcracker for people who'd rather hear voices than watch dancing.

The hall itself is worth knowing about independent of any single show. Orchestra Hall opened December 14, 1904, designed for free by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, a CSO trustee, as the long-sought permanent home for an orchestra founded in 1891 by Theodore Thomas — Thomas had been pushing for it for over a decade and died just weeks after the hall's dedication concert, never getting more than a few performances in the building he'd spent years trying to build. What's there today is really a 1990s reinvention: a $110 million renovation and expansion completed in 1997 turned the original hall into the larger Symphony Center complex that hosts shows like this one now.

Worth knowing: five performances run over five days with no single fixed showtime, so check cso.org for the exact date and time you want. Tickets start at $55.