(WESTFIELD, NJ) -- New Jersey Festival Orchestra kicks off the holiday season with a bang and plenty of bling on Saturday, December 7th (Westfield) and Sunday, December 8th (Madison), with The Three Holiday Tenors, a family festival of traditional and contemporary songs and music, sing-a-longs and more guaranteed to make the season merry.
Three internationally acclaimed guest tenors join NJFO to dazzle and captivate with a beautiful selection of renowned tenor classical fare to welcome in the holidays. Their performance of a host of traditional carols and wintertime curiosities are also sure to delight.
Says Maestro Wroe, "These magnificent tenors, each more talented than the next and drawn from New York’s Metropolitan Opera and beyond, provide 'Pavarotti style' favorites such as "O Sole Mio," "Torna a Surriento," and many, many more. “
“The program always has an Italian element — those Neapolitan folk songs are the perfect idiom for our soaring tenor voices,” continued Wroe. “It also includes wonderful symphonic interpretations of seasonal favorites — ‘Sleigh Ride,’ ‘O Holy Night,’ ‘Silent Night,’ ‘Jingle Bells’ and many more. This year we also tip our hat to the Irish in us with ‘Toora Loora,’ ‘Danny Boy,’ and other surprises.”
Barry Banks is an English tenor who, after a long association with NYC's Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera has achieved acclaim as one of finest interpreters of the Italian bel canto repertoire. His starring performances have taken him to the world’s leading opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatre del Liceu and the Salzburg Festival.
American tenor Matthew Vickers has been praised for his “brilliant and golden voice” (Die Kleine Zeitung), his “burnished sound and confident acting” (National Post), and hailed as “a gutsy performer whose glowing tenor voice has interestingly dark, baritonal undertones (Opera Now). Mr. Vickers recently performed the roles of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Memphis, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Virginia Opera, and Rodolfo in La bohème with Dayton Opera,
A resident artist at Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2014-2017, rising tenor Jesse Donner has already distinguished himself on the operatic and concert stage with his “vibrant” (Chicago ClassicalReview) and “fresh and juicy” (Chicago Tribune) voice. In addition to his concert debut with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, His 2019-2020 season includes a return to Union Avenue Opera in his role debut as Rodolfo (La bohème), and a return to the Louisville Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Verdi’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah.
Continued Wroe, “We are thrilled to welcome these gifted tenors to help us celebrate the Holiday season. The program is festive and up beat, with more 'top Cs' than you can shake a stick at!”
“We believe there is something for everyone at this festive concert. Our program is a vessel for children, parents, grandparents and friends -- indeed the entire community -- to come together through music at this unique time of the year,” added NJFO Board Vice-President Barry H. Zucker.
This seasonal stroll of timeless classics and sentimental favorites, sure to bring joy, smiles, and distinctive holiday memories to one and all, has been made possible in part by support from The New Jersey State council on the Arts, the Westfield Foundation and a Union County Heart (History, Education and Arts Reaching Thousands) Grant.
Tickets start at $30 for adults and there is a special discount price of only $15 for students under 21.
Tickets are also available for NJ Festival Orchestra’s New Year’s musical celebration. This year’s performance, The Golden Age of Broadway, promises a superb revue of American musical theater classics and features renowned guest vocalists direct from the Broadway stage and beyond. The concert takes place in Westfield on New Year’s Eve at WHS Auditorium at 7pm and will be repeated on New Year’s Day at 2.30pm at Fellowship Cultural Arts Center in Basking Ridge.
Tickets are available on line at www.njfestivalorchestra.org. Tickets may also be purchased by calling (908) 232-9400.
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
