New Philharmonic welcomes 2026 with three New Year’s Eve concerts at the MAC

“Of all sound of all bells … most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year,” said English essayist and poet Charles Lamb.

New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, and Maestro Kirk Muspratt say goodbye to 2025 and welcome to 2026 with three celebratory New Year’s Eve concerts that will take place at 1:30, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31, at the MAC, 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn.

By popular demand, acclaimed soprano Alisa Jordheim returns to perform with the New Philharmonic. Hailed as “vocally resplendent” and “powerful” by the San Francisco Chronicle, she will be featured in this highly entertaining program that will include classical, opera and pops music with a champagne toast.

There is limited ticket availability for the 1:30 and 5 p.m. concerts; best ticket availability is for the 8:30 p.m. concert.

New Philharmonic, being the only professional orchestra in DuPage County, has attracted and inspired classical music enthusiasts in Chicago and the suburbs for nearly five decades.

The orchestra’s concert programs draw attention with classical compositions and modern works that were written by various composers, at various times, and bring various feelings and emotions. People of different ages and with different backgrounds agree that New Philharmonic enriches their lives.

Particularly, the audience appreciates the New Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve concerts, as they set up just the right mood for the night and bring the spirit of joy, excitement, and expectation of something beautiful to happen in the upcoming year.

Thanks to the talent and hard work of Music Director and Conductor Kirk Muspratt, the skilled musicians of New Philharmonic keep the miracle of music alive.

This concert program will include Johann Strauss Jr.’s “Tik-Tak Polka,” Op. 365, one of six works that Strauss arranged with motifs from his third operetta “Die Fledermaus,” and his “Blue Danube Waltz,” Op. 314, one of the most popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire.

New Philharmonic will also wow the audience with festive and celebratory “Berliner Luft,” the unofficial anthem of Berlin written by Paul Lincke.

During Johann Strauss Sr.’s magnificent “Radetzky March,” the audience usually claps, as happens in Vienna. When this composition is being performed everyone in Vienna starts clapping. Maestro Muspratt knows exactly how to direct the volume of the clapping!

The concert program will also include music from popular films including Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 thriller “Spellbound,” William Wyler’s epic 1958 western “The Big Country,” the Academy Award-winning 1997 film “Titanic” and Walt Disney Pictures 1991 sci-fi adventure flick, “The Rocketeer.”

Award-winning soprano Alisa Jordheim will be featured in “Meine Lippen” from Lehar’s musical comedy “Guiditta”; Goundod’s popular waltz song “Je veux vivre” from “Romeo and Juliet,” and Lerner and Lowe’s “I Could Have Danced All Night,” from the Tony Award-winning musical and Academy Award-winning film “My Fair Lady.” She will also lead the audience in a rousing sing-along of the traditional “Auld Lang Syne.”

Her beautiful voice, artistic presentation, and unbelievable talent will impress everyone in the audience and will make this musical celebration even more spectacular and memorable.

MAC audiences have enjoyed Jordheim’s appearances with New Philharmonic in the “Merry Widow” (2020), “A Night of Broadway and Opera” (2021) and, most recently, as Adina in the concert opera presentation of “The Elixir of Love” (2025).

Lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle as “vocally resplendent” and possessing “impeccable coloratura,” her other notable roles just in the 2024-25 season included Violetta in “La Traviata” with Opera Western Reserve, La Fée in “Cendrillon” with Opera Orlando, Daria/Prima Donna in Donizetti’s “Viva la Mamma” with Florentine Opera, and the Young Girl in Cipullo’s “After Life” with Music of Remembrance in Seattle and San Francisco.

Jordheim is a grand prize winner of the Rose Bampton Award and a Career Development Grant from The Sullivan Foundation Competition, two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, winner of the Kaleidoscope International Vocal Competition, winner of the Irwin Scherzer Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation, and winner of the Edith Newfield Scholarship in the Musicians Club of Women Music Scholarship Competition.

Don’t miss your chance to enjoy this celebratory concert program! It will bring you joy, peace, and happiness.

Tickets are $70 to $80. For tickets, visit atthemac.org/events/nye/ or call (630) 942-4000.