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TubaChristmas is Here to Make Sure Your Holidays Hit the Right Note

By Mina Bloom | December 19, 2014 6:00am | Updated on December 19, 2014 7:49pm
 Nearly 400 tuba players will perform Saturday in the Loop.
Nearly 400 tuba players will perform Saturday in the Loop.
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Courtesy Shout Marketing

CHICAGO — For some, watching an orchestra made up exclusively of tuba players is as much of a holiday tradition as decorating the Christmas tree.

A holiday tradition around the globe, the annual TubaChristmas show will take place at 1 p.m Saturday.

Nearly 400 tuba and euphonium players will take the stage in the Grand and State ballrooms on the fourth floor of The Palmer House Hilton Hotel, 17 E. Monroe St., for their holiday show. 

While tickets are free and there is no registration, those behind the TubaChristmas show are asking for donations of non-perishable food items for the nonprofit food distribution and training center Chicago Food Depository.

During the show, concert-goers can warm up with hot drinks like a glass of mulled wine or spiced cider, which will be sold in the hotel lobby at Lockwood Restaurant & Bar.

TubaChristmas has a storied history. It was created by Harvey Phillips, an Indiana University music professor who is known as the "Paganini of the Tuba. The tradition honors Phillips' mentor and late tubist William J. Bell as well as American composer Alec Wilder, who arranged the music for the first TubaChristmas show.

The first show was performed in 1974 at New York's Rockefeller Center.

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