One great way to experience holiday cheer this season is through music. Check out the JazzMN Orchestra, which is returning to the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres on Dec. 13 with its holiday concert “Home For the Holiday.”
Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. and the performance, which runs over two hours long, starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 for the performance and an additional $18 to include dinner. Some seats that are off to an extreme side are $35. According to Kris Howland, CDT public relations director, since it is a musical performance, any seat is a great seat.
JazzMN is one of a handful of professional jazz orchestras in the nation, Howland said.
“The caliber of professionalism is staggering,” Howland said. “These are incredible musicians.”
This year, the orchestra will be playing with a guest vocalist Lila Ammons. She is a versatile singer who has a way with standards, blues and Brazilian music, according to a release from CDT. The Chicago native’s approach evokes 1950s pop and jazz.
According to JC Sanford, artistic director of the JazzMN Orchestra, he has never worked with Ammons before, but heard her sing a few years ago and was knocked out by her talent. He knew when he took over as the artistic director, that he wanted to hire her. She is a great stylist, very versatile and can improvise, he said.
“It’s just going to be great to be performing with her,” Sanford said.
Attendees can expect a swinging night from the JazzMN Orchestra. The show will consist of a variety of holiday themed music, including some tunes that people will recognize, Sanford said. The performance will include some lesser known arrangements and modern interpretations of older classics.
While the show consists mostly of Christmas music, there will also be a Hanukkah song and Ammons will be singing “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music,” which is considered a holiday tune, Sanford said.
It feels great that the orchestra is in a position that it’s safe enough to put on this performance, Sanford said. Not only is the show the orchestra’s first time back at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, it is its first indoor show. The orchestra performed a few outdoor shows this past summer.
The last performance JazzMN did indoors was the holiday show so “it feels kind of like the right thing to do to kind of pick up where we left off,” Sanford said.
According to Sanford, the holiday show has a great energy. People are sure to be in the holiday spirit. People who go to this kind of show at this time of year are there to enjoy themselves and the orchestra provides a good situation for them to do that, he said.
Howland is excited that the orchestra is making its return to the theater. It is such a great addition to the schedule every year and it adds a beautiful new genre of music that the theater doesn’t otherwise have, she said.
“They’re in a league of their own,” Howland said.
In past years, Howland would sit in her office listening to the JazzMN Orchestra rehearsing.
“I’m always sort of blown away by just the joy of the music,” Howland said. “That warm brass and that classy sort of holiday sound that’s kind of like what you might have heard back in the 50s and 60s.”
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres will require ticket holders to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours prior to attendance. Exceptions to the policy will be made for guests under age 12.
Masks will be required for all guests and staff, regardless of vaccination status or age. Masks are required to be worn throughout the building, at the table (when not eating or drinking) and throughout the entire performance. (Bandannas and neck gaiters are not considered acceptable facial coverings.)
