The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum reimagines the traditional holiday concert with its Holiday Music in the Courtyard celebration, from 6–9pm on Wednesday, December 3, 2025. The performance will take place in the Gardner Museum’s famed Courtyard, while guests are invited to watch from the surrounding galleries, strolling through the Museum to take in the music from every angle. (Please note, this is not a seated concert.)
Led by George Steel, Abrams Curator of Music, this immersive evening will showcase music from across four centuries, celebrating a variety of cultures’ winter traditions. The performance features the acclaimed Vox Vocal Ensemble and the all-star American Brass Quintet, with opportunities for everyone to sing along with familiar carols.
Additionally, coinciding with the Gardner Museum’s current exhibition Allan Rohan Crite: Urban Glory and taking a cue from Crite’s work “Three Spirituals From Earth To Heaven,” on view in the exhibition, the Boston Arts Academy Spirituals Ensemble led by Michael W. Bradley will perform several selections.
The music and sing-along will run from 7–8 pm, and ticket holders can come early at 6 pm or stay late until 9 pm to enjoy the Museum galleries, shop at Gift at the Gardner, or purchase treats from Café G’s holiday menu of small plates and cocktails/mocktails.
Visible from virtually any gallery in the Palace, the Courtyard is the heart and soul of the Gardner Museum, with changing horticultural displays throughout the year. In December, the festive garden features dark forest greens and shades of red and silver including masses of flowering jade trees, silver dusty miller, green aloe, and the dark red winter blooms of amaryllis, creating a magical setting for Holiday Music in the Courtyard.
George Steel’s music programming for the Museum continues founder and legendary arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision of bringing together musicians and audiences for inspiring gatherings. Dating to 1927, the Gardner’s Weekend Concert Series is the longest running museum music program in the country. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner did in her time, Steel champions unknown repertoire and embraces new works, creates connections and builds community among musicians, and supports them by presenting them in new endeavors and collaborations. His programming also frequently draws on the history of the Gardner Museum, featuring instruments from the Museum’s collection and music by composers who were associated with its founder. In honoring Isabella Stewart Gardner’s musical legacy, Music at the Gardner remains strongly committed to broadening the repertoire of music presented to include previously overlooked and marginalized composers as well as performers of all backgrounds.
Ticketing Information
Tickets ($50) are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. For additional information including about accessibility, please contact [email protected].
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invites you to escape the ordinary in a magical setting where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of its founder, the Museum offers a singular invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters with art and joyful connections for all. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo. For information 617 566 1401 • Box Office 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org.