Chisel's Holiday Mischief, NEWVoices concerts set to take stage at Chapel

Two holiday concerts featuring artists with close ties to Lawrence will be held in Lawrence Memorial Chapel in the coming days.

NEWVoices, a community choir directed by Phillip Swan, associate professor of music and co-director of choral studies at Lawrence, will present its Christmas at the Chapel concert in Memorial Chapel at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17. Tickets are $25 ($10 for students) and can be purchased here.

Singer/songwriter Cory Chisel, who co-teaches an American Roots Music class with Brian Pertl, dean of the Conservatory, will bring his annual Holiday Mischief concert to Memorial Chapel at 8 p.m. Dec. 23. He’ll be joined by Lawrence voice professor John Holiday and other musical guests. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here.  

The two NEWVoices concerts in the Chapel will follow a Christmas at the Cathedral performance by the choir at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay. Swan serves as artistic director and conductor for NEWVoices, a non-professional choir made up of community members who must audition and rehearse.

The Chisel concert, meanwhile, will feature a roster of guest artists, including Holiday, the award-winning opera singer and voice professor who gained national notoriety in 2020 as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice and has since bridged multiple genres in his recordings and performances. Other guests include Big Mouth & the Power Tool Horns, DeMario Adams-Holiday, Adriel Denae, Boy Howdy, Hang Ten, Julia Blair, and Rachel Crowl.

Chisel is a co-founder of the Mile of Music festival. His Holiday Mischief concert returns to the Chapel after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Doors open at 7 p.m.