THE DAKOTA VALLEY SYMPHONY & CHORUS 2026-2027 Concert Season
Join us at the Ames Center in Burnsville as we kick off our 2026-2027 concert season, making music for all ages and occasions. Visit our Concerts page for more information on each event.
A Musical Christmas Carol
Sunday, Dec 6 2026 at 2:00 pm
Featuring guest artists Jake Endres, Gary Briggle, Joni Griffith, and the Dakota Valley Symphony and Chorus, Austin Meyer, Chorus Master
In a classic 1940’s radio-hour atmosphere, the Dakota Valley Symphony and Chorus fill the studio with warm, candlelit sound as actors Jake Endres, Gary Briggle, and Joni Griffith bring Dickens' A Christmas Carol to life. Pausing for smiles and shivers as the orchestra paints each transformation in rich orchestral color and the chorus answers with clean, heartfelt harmonies.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols follows like a festive procession of Christmas melodies, swelling and turning with communal joy, then settling back into reverent glow as the story deepens. Gustav Holst’s Christmas Day rises with ceremonial grace, and In the Bleak Mid-Winter arrives in quiet, radiant stillness—voices centered and tender, making the radio seem suddenly close and intimate.
With John Rutter’s carols bringing a brighter lift, their crisp, modern warmth threading through the older tradition, until Dickens’ moral light feels fully kindled—culminating in a final, gently triumphant choral-and-orchestral chord that fades into the soft static of holiday night.
Featuring...
Dickens: A Christmas Carol
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Holst: Christmas Day (Choral Fantasy on Old Carols)
Matt Riley (arr.): Christmas Overture
Holst: In the Bleak Mid-Winter
John Rutter: Various Carols
Coleridge-Taylor: Christmas Overture
... and more!
Give to the Max Day is Thursday, November 19, 2026
Please join us for Minnesota's annual giving holiday, Give to the Max. Early giving begins November 1, 2026.
Your donation may help us win additional funds! Every gift made on our GiveMN page enters prize drawings.
Click here to donate!
We're gearing up for our 2027 Young Artists Competition!
Auditions in January 2027, with a performance Sunday, Apr 18 2027 at 2:00 pm.
Check HERE for details!
Find out about the upcoming season and additional events:
2026-2027 Concert Season |
Summer Pops 2027 |
Past Seasons
