The mid-winter is anything but bleak with art, music, theater and dance events filling the first month of 2025. Within 31 days, North Texans can savor the last few days of holiday joy, explore Vesuvius, immerse themselves in Shakespeare at a theatre-in-the-round, and hear two world-class violinists perform with two different orchestras.
LAST CHANCE
The merriment of the holiday season continues at the garden’s Holiday at the Arboretum until January 5. This holiday season marked the tenth anniversary of 12 Days of Christmas, the exhibition that started the garden’s holiday festivities. Twelve jewel-box-like gazebos are scattered throughout the garden, each featuring life-size scene from the titular Christmas carol. Dallas Arboretum’s holiday festivities now include Pauline and Austin Neuhoff Family Christmas Village, a festive recreation of a European Christmas Market and Holiday at the DeGolyer House, an exhibition with a new festive theme each year. This year, A Della Robbia Holiday theme debuts, blending the artistic legacy of Luca Della Robbia’s terracotta sculptures with handcrafted holiday decorations inspired by Colonial Williamsburg.
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January 5 is the last chance to see two exhibitions exploring a historical journey through Spain and Italy at the SMU-based museum. Set during one of the most dynamic moments in Western history, The Legacy of Vesuvius: Bourbon Discoveries on the Bay of Naples looks at the groundbreaking archaeological excavations sponsored by the Bourbon King Charles VII of Naples—the future king of Spain—and his wife, Maria Amalia, and continued by his son and successor Ferdinand IV. The exhibition demonstrates their formative influence on art and thought in the Age of Enlightenment.
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In a companion exhibition to The Legacy of Vesuvius, Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain explores how the Islamic monuments of the Iberian Peninsula—also being excavated after centuries of neglect—became powerful symbols of Spanish culture and identity. Drawing on the Meadows Museum’s permanent collection, SMU’s Bridwell and DeGolyer Libraries, and two local private collections, Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain illuminates a moment of intense social and cultural change in Spain, when debates raged about national identity and modernization, which in turn yielded a cultural resurgence and renewed interest in Spain’s past, including its Islamic heritage.
NEW FOR THE NEW YEAR
Dallas Chamber Symphony opens the new year at Moody Performance Hall with a January 14 concert featuring Sarah Ying Ma, 2024 Performance Today Young Artist in Residence with host Fred Childs, and the recent 2nd Prizewinner of the 2023 Dallas International Violin Competition. She will perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. The evening’s program also includes Respighi’sTrittico botticelliano and Beethoven’sSymphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major.
After ringing in the New Year with its New Year’s Eve concert on December 31, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has concerts almost every weekend of January at the Meyerson Symphony Center. The month starts with The Music of Star Wars, featuring the iconic music of John Williams’ score for the movie franchise, on January 3 and 4. From January 10-12, Disco Fever will be a groovy trip down memory lane featuring music made famous by Bee Gees, ABBA, and Saturday Night Fever. The concert series running January 23 -26 features Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, following the love-sick hero’s drug-induced visions to a glittering ball, the march to the scaffold and a demonic Witches’ Sabbath with the Dies irae pounding out a hair-raising theme amid tumult. The month concludes with Brahm’s Violin Concerto performed by Augustin Hadelich, named Musical America’s 2018 “Instrumentalist of the Year”, January 30 - February 2.
The Tony Award-winning theater opens Shane at the Kalita Humpheys Theater January 31. Like the classic 1953 film, this stage version by Karen Zacarías is based on Jack Schaefer’s novel. Shane, a mysterious ex-gunfighter, is a man with a dangerous past. Yet, the Starrett family finds kinship with him, and Shane helps protect their Wyoming farm. Their story sheds new light on the allure, mythos, and values of the Wild West, a chapter in history that still has many tales to tell.
Like the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Orchestra has performances throughout the month. Hear Dvořák’s ninth and final symphony, “From the New World,” and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor and the Overture to The Impresario. From January 10-11, the orchestra presents Sci-Fi Symphony, featuring music from Star Trek, X-Files, Alien, and Star Wars. The orchestra’s January 17-19 concert series features Strauss’ Don Juan, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major. On January 24-25, the orchestra presents John Williams’ score of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark as a movie-in-concert event. The month ends with a January 31- February 2 concert series featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. All performances are at Bass Performance Hall.
From January 9 – 12 at Moody Performance Hall, Junior Players will present a musical adaptation of Rick Riordan’s series, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical with a cast featuring sixteen teenagers from eight different North Texas high schools. As the half-blood son of a Greek god, Percy Jackson has newly discovered powers he can't control, a destiny he doesn't want, and a mythology textbook's worth of monsters on his trail. When Zeus's master lightning bolt is stolen and Percy becomes the prime suspect, he has to find and return the bolt to prove his innocence and prevent a war between the gods.
Shakespeare Dallas presents Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure as its first indoor winter production since 2020. Performed on the Norma Young Arena Stage at Theatre Three in Uptown Dallas January 8 - 26, Measure for Measure is a rarely performed tragicomedy about a Duke providing divine intervention as Vienna is beset with brothels and loose morality.
On January 30, the Fort Worth theater opens a co-production with the Dallas Theater Center of Primary Trust, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Eboni Booth. The show centers on Kenneth, who lives in a small town in upstate New York. By day, he works at a local bookstore - by night, he sips mai tais at his favorite bar with his best friend Bert. When Kenneth is unexpectedly laid off, the quiet life he knows is thrown into a tailspin, as he sets out on a journey of self-discovery. Courage gives way to transformation in this story about old friends, new beginnings, and the good in being there for one another. Following the Fort Worth run, Dallas Theatre Center will open the show February 27.
On February 24 and 25 at Moody Performance Hall, Titas/Dance Unbound will present Ballet Hispánico’s CARMEN.maquia. With a stunning set design by Luis Crespo and minimalist black-and-white costumes by fashion designer David Delfin evoke the paintings of Pablo Picasso, it is a Picasso-inspired contemporary take on Bizet’s beloved classic. The physically charged and sensual choreography fuses contemporary dance with nods to the Spanish paso doble and flamenco.
The Addison-based theater company is bringing back its co-production with Stage West of The Play That Goes Wrong in time for the new year. Opening night is New Year’s Eve and the run will continue through January 19. This Olivier Award-winning comedy is a hilarious hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes. Welcome to opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous with an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines).
