Pre-concert Talk: Jonathan Berryman and Chelsea Tipton

Join us for a free 30-minute lecture before each Classics Series concert. These engaging lectures cover the repertoire, composer insights, and secrets from soloists. Please join us for this FREE learning opportunity!

Holiday Extravaganza
December 19
Speakers: NHSO Principal Pops Conductor Chelsea Tipton and Heritage Chorale Director Jonathan Q. Berryman

NHSO Pops Conductor Chelsea Tipton leads Connecticut’s Christmas tradition, the NHSO’s Holiday Extravaganza. This year the Symphony will be joined by New Haven’s Heritage Chorale in a concert that blends holiday classics with new seasonal favorites.

Chelsea Tipton
As a sought after guest conductor, Chelsea has appeared with numerous major orchestras in the U.S., including Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Houston, Atlanta, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Nashville, Hilton Head, and San Antonio, as well as the Brooklyn, Louisiana, and Rochester Philharmonics, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana (Palermo) among others.  During the summer of 2011 he was part of an extensive European tour with pop artist Sting that took him to 15 countries and to work with 19 different European orchestras.  He prepared the orchestras for the concerts and performed with Sting in concert in the Canary Islands, Granada, and Cap Roig Spain.  Chelsea recently conducted the Sphinx Competition Showcase gala concert at Carnegie Hall, which was the culmination of a ten city tour with that orchestra.  He was a last minute replacement for Robert Spano to conduct an all-Gershwin season finale with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.  The New York Times applauded Tipton for “leading sweeping and vibrant performances” of Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris.

Jonathan Q. Berryman
Jonathan Q. Berryman, Founder and Director of New Haven’s Heritage Chorale, graduated with honors from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. He continued his education at Yale University where he earned a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting and a Certificate in Sacred Music Studies from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. While at Yale, Mr. Berryman served as Assistant Conductor of the Yale Camerata. In addition to directing The Heritage Chorale of New Haven, Mr. Berryman teaches Choral Music at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School and is Minister of Music at Messiah Baptist Church in Bridgeport, CT. Mr. Berryman is the recipient of The Arts Council of Greater New Haven 2005 Award for Creative Collaboration and the Phenomenal Man Award from the New Haven Alumni Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.