Norm Lewis to Join The New York Pops for THE BEST CHRISTMAS OF ALL at Carnegie Hall

The New York Pops—led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke— will ring in the holidays with two festive concerts, The Best Christmas of All, on Friday, December 22 and Saturday, December 23, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra is joined by Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis and Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA for its annual holiday tradition featuring a merry night of classic carols, contemporary favorites, plus a few surprises

"Celebrating the holidays with our New York Pops audiences at Carnegie Hall is one of the best ways to get in the spirit of the season!” said Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke. “I hope both New Yorkers and visitors to the city during this festive time of year are able to join us for this special concert tradition!”

Additional upcoming performances for The New York Pops’ 2023-24 season of performances in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall include: One Night Only: An Evening with Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara on Friday, November 17, 2023; Gershwin: A Century of Rhapsody in Blueon Friday, February 9, 2024 featuring Montego Glover and Lee Musiker; and Hitsville: Celebrating Motown on Friday, March 15, 2024 featuring Bryan Terrell Clark and Valisia LeKae.

Program Information

THE NEW YORK POPS
The Best Christmas of All
Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Norm Lewis, Guest Artist
Essential Voices USA, Judith Clurman, Music Director and Conductor

Friday, December 22, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 23, 2023 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall

Tickets are available for purchase at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, at 57th and Seventh, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website at carnegiehall.org.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The New York Pops Carnegie Hall Subscription Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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About the Artists

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series at Carnegie Hall, and is among the venue’s most presented ensembles. Now in its 41st season, The New York Pops’ annual birthday gala is celebrated each spring, raising funds for the orchestra and its education programs. The New York Pops performs annually in Queens, NY at Forest Hills Stadium, a 14,000-seat historic concert venue. 

The New York Pops celebrates the diversity of popular music’s evolving songbook. Every concert is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with influences ranging from Broadway melodies to film scores, jazz, rock, pop, and everything in between. Under Reineke’s dynamic leadership, The New York Pops continues to re-imagine orchestral pops music.

Through its PopsEd music education programs, The New York Pops fulfills its dedication to lifelong learning by collaborating with public schools, community organizations, and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun.

The New York Pops is committed to serving all members of the community. Through its Kids in the Balcony and Kids in the Stadium programs, thousands of children and their parents have had an opportunity to see The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and Forest Hills Stadium free of charge. 

The New York Pops was founded by Ruth and Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich musical heritage through presentation of concerts and education programs of the highest quality. The New York Pops is a non-profit organization supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, corporate sponsorships, and concert income.

Steven Reineke is one of North America's leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall.  Additionally, he is Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.

Reineke is a frequent guest conductor and can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.

On stage, Mr. Reineke creates and collaborates with a range of leading artists from the worlds hip-hop, R & B, Broadway, television and rock including: Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Ne-Yo, Barry Manilow, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Kelli O’Hara, Amos Lee, Dispatch, Jason Mraz, and Ben Folds, amongst others.  In 2017 he was featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" leading the National Symphony Orchestra - in a first for the show's 45-year history - performing live music excerpts in between news segments.  In 2018 Reineke led the National Symphony Orchestra with hip-hop legend Nas performing his seminal album "Illmatic" on PBS's Great Performances.

As the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements, Reineke’s work is performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands perennially.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal), where he earned bachelor of music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City with his husband Eric Gabbard.

About Norm Lewis

Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee, Norm Lewis, was recently seen onstage starring in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier's Play and in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End Concert of "Love Never Dies."  He starred in Spike Lee's critically acclaimed, "Da 5 Bloods," and in the groundbreaking FX series, Pose.  Additionally, Mr. Lewis can be seen starring opposite Hilary Swank in the feature "The Good Mother," Amazon Prime's newest series, Swarm, and Hulu's, Up Here.  He was also seen as 'Caiaphas' in the award-winning NBC television special, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,” alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper.

Mr. Lewis returned to Broadway in the Fall of 2021, starring in Chicken and Biscuits at the Circle In The Square Theatre.  He previously appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at the Barrow Street Theatre, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance.  In May of 2014, he made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Phantom on Broadway.

He has been seen on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center productions of Showboat with Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration with Diane Reeves, as well as American Voices with Renée Fleming and the PBS Specials First You Dream – The Music of Kander & Ebb and Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas.  He can be seen recurring in the VH1 series, Daytime Divas, also alongside Vanessa Williams.  His additional television credits include Women of The Movement, Law & Order, Dr. Death, Mrs. America, Better Things, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bull, Chicago Med, Gotham, The Blacklist, and Blue Bloods, as well as in his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal.

Mr. Lewis is a proud, founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess. Other Broadway credits include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy. In London’s West End he has appeared as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS.

Off-Broadway Mr. Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, AUDELCO Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous, and A New Brain. His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Ragtime, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd, and The Fantasticks.

His additional film credits include Christmas In Tune (starring opposite Reba McEntire), Magnum Opus, Winter’s Tale, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, andPreaching to the Choir.

Norm's albums "The Norm Lewis Christmas Album" & "This is The Life" can be found on Amazon.com as well as cdbaby.com.

Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) is one of New York’s preeminent choral ensembles. EVUSA comprises a talented roster of seasoned professionals and auditioned volunteers, dynamically fitted to the unique needs of each project. They perform with The New York Pops on their Carnegie Hall subscription series and have appeared at Lincoln Center and on NPR’S Tiny Desk Concerts. EVUSA recently released the recording of “Washington Women,” a collection of choral songs, scored for mixed chorus, piano and cello, by David Chase and Judith Clurman. Judith Clurman conducts Essential Voices USA and the Singing Tree Float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and currently teaches at the Manhattan School of Music.   Her work has received Emmy and Grammy nominations and she has collaborated with the major classical orchestras and conductors of the world. She was Director of Choral Activities at The Juilliard School for 18 years and a faculty member for the National Endowment for the Arts/Columbia University Institute in Classical Music and Opera. Her music and arrangements are published by G. Schirmer, Schott, and Hal Leonard, and have been performed by the Detroit, Houston, National, Toronto, and San Francisco Symphonies and the New York and Boston Pops.

Photo credit: Richard Termine

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