MUSIC
Sounds of Blackness performs songs from the family favorite The Night Before Christmas in a live recording from the Ordway Concert Hall streaming online from now though December 31. Seventeen singers and a 10-piece band are featured in this contemporary adaptation of the classic poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” augmented by traditional carols and holiday favorites. Tickets are $15. Visit ordway.org.
The Minnesota Boychoir is featured in a virtual holiday concert that will be available free of charge from December 24 through January 1 at landmarkcenter.org.
The music of Libby Larsen will be featured in a free Courtroom Concert presented by the Schubert Club from noon-1 p.m. Thursday, January 7, on Landmark Center’s website. Visit landmarkcenter.org.
THEATER
Winterlight, 20 minutes of classic and original stories, songs and poems to warm the heart at midwinter, will be available free of charge on Monday, December 28, on Girl Friday Productions’ YouTube channel, Facebook page and website. Performers include Kirby Bennett, Reese Britts, Craig Johnson, Willie E. Jones III, Sam Landman, Hope Nordquist, James Rodriguez, Taj Ruler, Sophina Saggau and Dana Lee Thompson. Visit girlfridayproductions.org.
FILM
Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas, an irreverent, offbeat documentary about the Jewish songwriters who wrote much of the soundtrack to the Christian holiday, is being presented on December 24-26 by the Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival. Set almost entirely in a Chinese restaurant, the film by Larry Weinstein tells of immigrant outsiders such as Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks who discovered in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world. The video may be viewed free of charge anytime between 5 p.m. Thursday and 11 p.m. Saturday. Visit tinyurl.com/y4q9g2al.
British Arrows Greatest Hits, an online presentation of the most inventive advertisements from the past 40 years of British television, is being streamed through January 4 by the Walker Art Center. Tickets are $12. Visit walkerart.org/cinema.
EXHIBITS
“1.5,” an exhibit by seven artists from Southeast Asia who immigrated to the U.S. as children and their descendants, is on display through January 3 in the sidewalk and skyway windows of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, 350 N. Robert St. Visit mmaa.org.
Northern Clay Center, 2424 E. Franklin Ave., is holding its annual holiday exhibition through December 30. Eighty-five artists are displaying for show and sale their handmade pottery, sculpture and ceramic jewelry. Visit northernclaycenter.org or call 612-339-8007.
ET CETERA
Eight historic homes in Saint Paul’s Hill District whose halls have been decked for the holidays may be toured in high-definition video with instrumental music and narration. Through a partnership of the Ramsey Hill and Summit Hill Associations, the virtual tour will take you through foyers, libraries, dining and living rooms, a kitchen and a Swedish-inspired front porch in houses constructed between 1862 and 1928 by Cass Gilbert, Clarence Johnston, David Adler and other architects of renown. The cost is $20 for 33 minutes of content that may be streamed repeatedly for up to 30 days. Visit vimeo.com/ondemand/historichillholidaytour/.
BOOKS
“Lemonade Christmas,” a staged reading of Merriam Park author Roger Barr’s 23rd Christmas story, is being presented through January 31 on the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center’s YouTube channel. The story delves into the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on a family’s holiday traditions. Joining Barr on stage are actors Brian P. Joyce, Charla Marie Bailey, Terrence C. Newby and Melvin Carter Jr. The video recording may be viewed free of charge, though donations are encouraged to Hallie’s Q. Brown’s Summit-University food shelf. For information and a link to the reading, visit hallieqbrown.org.
Join Milkweed Editions for the virtual launch of poet torrin a. greathouse’s debut collection, Wound from the Mouth of a Wound, at 7 p.m. Thursday, January 7. Winner of the 2020 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry, greathouse will be joined in the free hour-long program by author and Ballard Spahr judge Aimee Nezhukumatathil. To register, visit tinyurl.com/y4xz6waz. The first 500 RSVPs will receive access to the Zoom link via email. The event will also be live-streamed to Milkweed Edition’s YouTube page.
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