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Posted on in Artistic Leadership, Baritone, classical music, Community & The Arts, Conductors & Creators, cultural credibility, DC Cultural Life, DMV Arts & Music, Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Kennedy Center Performances, lifestyle, mezzo-soprano, Musicians & Makers, Nancia D'Alimonte Conductor, Opera House Orchestra, orchestra conductor, Performing Arts, Personal Reflections, Soprano, Tenor, Washington DC Arts

Christmas Arrived in Song:

The Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along Experience

There is a moment every December when Christmas arrives for me. This year, it was during the 53rd Annual Kennedy Center Messiah Sing-Along, drawn from Handel’s oratorio and brought to life under the baton of Dr. Nancia D’Alimonte, Music Director.

Music Director, Nancia D’Alimonte, delights in performer excellence and audience participation

Nancia’s conducting felt both deeply personal and profoundly communal. She engaged each musician with intention, while simultaneously holding the entire hall in shared purpose. Four choirs, including members of the New Dominion Chorale, Northern Virginia Community Chorus, Thomas Circle Singers, and Vocal Arts of Fairfax joined forces with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and a hall of approximately 2,500 singing audience participants.

Nancia wrote on her social media, “Last evening, I conducted the Messiah Sing-Along at the Kennedy Center to a very enthusiastic audience who sang their hearts out! It was an opportunity to bring joy to so many who really needed it . . . and that is what happened – a joyful event! “

This year, I managed to keep my place in the score and sing my alto line. I was certainly not perfect, but I managed to stay faithfully focused. Some passages live in memory. Others still required careful reading and courage. There are always fewer altos than sopranos at a sing-along. There were moments when the alto came in alone. I hoped to hear another alto nearby but trusted the line. The sopranos around us were extraordinary. Their voices soared, bright and fearless. I wondered what it might feel like to have that vocal ability.

Music notation at first felt like a foreign language:  dots, lines, measures, rests (I do appreciate consecutive rests). Eventually, I stepped into the music.

My husband sang tenor, as did the gentleman behind us, who began beautifully and gradually shifted into something closer to projection than tone. Afterward, my husband and I shared a laugh about our own voices. My second alto is lower than his tenor. Humor is a necessary part of communal singing. Everyone offers what they have, and somehow it makes a joyful sound.

Soprano, Pamela Simonson Parker
Baritone, Carl DuPont
Tenor, Allan Palacios Chan and Mezzo soprano, Frances Mitchem-Diago

The soloists were exceptional partners in Nancia’s musical conversation. Each soloist demonstrated artistry anchored in trust. They met Nancia with intelligence, precision, and warmth. Their collaboration lifted us all.

Nancia’s personal journey is remarkable. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Mendi Rodan. She also holds a Master of Music in horn performance from Ithaca College and studied horn at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. She was a professional horn player with the Oshawa Symphony in Canada.

Nancia recently joined the Board of Directors of the John S. Mulholland Family Foundation, supporting food assistance for the working poor of Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Giancarlo, live in Falls Church. They are avid scuba divers, travelers, cooks, and devoted companions to their delightful moyen poodle, Lupo.

Credentials are not what made the evening extraordinary.

What was most moving was the text. It was the Biblical narrative of promise, struggle, prophecy, and hope that was sung not as performance, but as recognition. Thousands of voices carried it forward: steady, reverent, and joyful.

This is when Christmas arrived for me. It arrived not through decorations or ritual, but through music, meaning, and shared breath.

We left the hall grateful, lifted, and were reminded that Handel still takes us to great heights then gently brings us home in celebration of the meaning of the season.

Conductor, Nancia D’Alimonte congratulates Concertmaster, Oleg Rylatko

Posted on in art, concert, Dance, Lady Gaga, lifestyle, Light SHow, London, London Tube, Madison Square, Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, Mayhem Ball, MSG, Music, New York City, O2

GO! Go See the Show!

New York!

For my birthday, my daughter gave me a ticket to see Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball Concert at Madison Square Garden. I immediately began mentally making excuses not to go—too much work, too far to travel, too complicated. Then I bit the bullet and went to New York for the show.

What would I have missed had I stayed home working? A transformative cultural experience. That would have been my loss, despite whatever tasks I might have accomplished at my desk.

I have been attending concerts since the Who opened for Herman’s Hermits (yes, I was young once). After countless shows in theaters, stadiums, and arenas, I grew jaded. I thought having seen some of the best, I was done.

Not so fast.

These concerts are not merely performers singing their songs loudly while audiences cheer. This is an experience like none other: music, costumes, dance, theater, sociology, spectacular lighting, elaborate sets, powerful themes, and above all—generosity of spirit.

The Artist Who Delivers

We have all read about difficult performers who show up angry, battling group dynamics and technical problems. The performance I witnessed had none of those issues and all of the magic. Gaga delayed the concert start by several hours to accept the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, including Artist of the Year. Then she arrived and gave us her heart. She had already put in a whole day’s work, then performed an electrifying two-and-a-half-hour concert. And yes, she incorporated her award statues into one of the acts.

The later start gave us time to enjoy a leisurely dinner and a relaxed entry into Madison Square Garden. The music and performance were exceptional—but you don’t need me to review an exceptional artist’s performance. Of course it was off-the-charts wonderful. What captivated me was the audience and the atmosphere they created with the performer.

London!

The Magic of the Crowd

So many people came dressed as Mayhem characters. There was me in a nice colorful cocktail dress, all the way to the full Lady Mayhem complete with lace mask, crown, and red costume. In my party, the costumes were breathtaking. I felt a bit underdressed, but the show went on.

The audience was gracious and kind. It was delightful to meet so many enthusiastic fans who came to enjoy both the performance and the camaraderie. People stopped to admire costumes and introduce themselves. The atmosphere was electric.

I spotted Gaga’s parents in the audience. They must have been over the moon—awards and adulation: proof that those voice and piano lessons paid off.

Breaking My Own Rules

I loved the NYC concert so much that I made a rash decision: I would see it again in London. I broke my promise not to travel in 2025 and booked a flight. While the NYC concert was out of this world, somehow the London performance exceeded my expectations. The audience’s appreciation and Gaga’s acknowledgment and gratitude were palpable.

The London performance was at O2 Arena, where 20,000 people entered, reached their seats, experienced the magic of the performance, and then miraculously filed out onto the Tube without pushing, shoving, or even loud words. They were gentle and patient—even in the very crowded, shoulder-to-shoulder train cars. Twenty thousand people, some dressed in their finest Mayhem costumes, made their way home peacefully. We were a bit less conspicuous on the return trip than we had been heading to the venue.

Before the concert, I worried about wearing our regalia on the Tube and causing other riders consternation. But Londoners are tactful and uninvolved with the strangers with whom they share the evening commute. A few Gaga fans even cheered us on.

Having just seen the NYC show, I was prepared for excellence. But I wasn’t prepared for excellence multiplied. How can perfection improve? The London audience’s energy was supercharged. They cheered, sang, and hugged their neighbors. The costumes weren’t as over-the-top as in NYC, but some were incredible. This time, I made better plans and packed a crown, cape, and dress in my suitcase. I WAS Lady Mayhem! Although, looking at the pictures – maybe more like Little Red Riding Hood?

The Real Gift

After the performance ended and we returned to my friend’s house in London, I pondered what I’d just experienced. This was more than entertainment—it was an entire sensory event that spoke not only to my musical and dramatic interests but to my soul. To my sense of joy and gratitude.

To those of us who have seen many concerts: go to the new ones. To those who haven’t experienced such events: this is a cultural phenomenon worthy of the cost—even if you don’t dress up and look silly on the Tube or Metro.

I thank Lady Gaga for her generosity in sharing her talents with us and creating an impeccable experience worthy of causing me to break my travel moratorium. I thank my lovely and incredible daughter for inviting me and for such a memorable birthday gift.

Photo Credits: Krasi Henkel