Heavenly holiday music from the Emerald Isle: Back at the Emerson Center by popular demand, it’s the internationally acclaimed “Celtic Angels Christmas Concert.” This quintet of charming and gifted Irish women takes the stage this Saturday, Dec. 1, to launch our holiday season with an evening of warm and wonderful family entertainment. I suggest securing your tickets pronto to avoid being left out in the snow. In addition to the angelic voices will be the spectacular, heart-pounding choreography of the world-class Celtic Knight and Angel Dancers, featuring (yea!) Patrick O’Mahoney of Riverdance; and the terrific Trinity Band Ensemble of Dublin. The program includes Celtic Christmas songs, among them “Christmas in Killarney,” “The Wexford Carol,” “Once Upon A Time In Ireland” and “Oichie Chiuin” (Silent Night), sung in Gaelic (the Celts’ native tongue); and, of course, many Christmas classics – “It Came upon the Midnight Clear,” “O Holy Night,” “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” among them. Time: 7 p.m. Tickets: $39 and $49. Students with ID, balcony seats: $19. Hearing aids and elevator available. 772-532-9184 or www.theemersoncenter.org.
From Rachmaninoff to Gershwin: Russian-born, American-trained soprano Elena Mindlina will perform in concert at First Presbyterian Church in Vero this Sunday, Dec. 2, a presentation of the church’s 2018-2019 Concert Series. For Mindlina’s Russian tour last fall, which featured newly discovered songs of late 19th/early 20th century Russian composer, pianist and conductor Nikolai Tcherepnin, critics applauded her interpretation of the challenging program, and her “vocal technique, sophisticated musicality, and outstanding artistic talent that transformed each song into a dramatic scene.” Mindlina holds a doctorate from State University of New York at Stony Brook, and teaches voice and violin at her private studios in New York and Stony Brook. The Sunday program will include music by Rachmaninoff, Sviridov, Fauré, Hahn, Lee Hoiby and Gershwin. Time: 4 p.m. Admission: Free. A donation is always appreciated. 772-562-9088.
