MISTRAL, one of Boston’s preeminent chamber music series, now celebrating its 29th season, has announced the return of its popular family concert on Saturday, October 25, 4 pm, at West Parish Church, Andover, and on Sunday, October 26, 5 pm, at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brookline. All kids’ tickets are free at the door. Just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving, Mistral offers a sparkling program of vibrant musical storytelling, with WCRB radio’s celebrated host Cathy Fuller as narrator.
The centerpiece is Tough Turkey in the Big City by Lincoln Center’s brilliant composer, educator, and radio personality Bruce Adolphe. Best known as the longtime host of NPR’s “Piano Puzzler” and a leading voice at Lincoln Center, Adolphe brings wit, imagination, and jazz-inflected brilliance to this rollicking tale of a country turkey who lands in New York City. With the trombone cast as “Tom Turkey” and colorful interjections from trumpet, clarinet, violin, cello, and percussion, this clever romp delights children with its humor while keeping adults grinning at its sly sophistication.
Equally transporting is The Emperor and the Nightingale, a poignant retelling by Colorado composer David Mullikin of Hans Christian Andersen’s timeless fairytale. Set in Imperial China, this lyrical work recounts the special friendship between the Emperor and a delicate nightingale, enveloping listeners in an atmosphere of beauty, wonder, and wisdom, imparting life’s most essential lessons. No program of musical storytelling would be complete without Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, beloved across generations and made legendary by Disney’s Fantasia. With its whirling brooms and escalating magical mischief, it is a perfect nod to Halloween.
This concert is designed to delight concert goers of every age, a chance to reconnect with your inner child, hear familiar favorites in fresh new ways, and introduce young listeners to the magic of live classical music. Come in your Halloween costumes and share an afternoon of enchantment! Exposing your children to classical music at a young age nourishes in them a life-long love.
For Shorter Calendar Listings:
Saturday, October 25, 4 pm Andover West Parish Church
Sunday, October 26, 5 pm, Brookline, Saint Paul’s Church
Tickets $40/$35 if part of a subscription series of three or more concerts. Student tickets are Free at the door: Contact us about group and family discounts. Order securely online at www.MISTRALMUSIC.org or call 978-474-6222. MISTRAL has been bringing “unstuffy, unpredictable, and unmatched” concerts with internationally renowned musicians to the Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston area since 1997. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Julie Scolnik, Mistral performances are always a little eccentric, stubbornly personal, impassioned, and committed to invigorating old traditions with an ever-youthful perspective. The Mistral 2025-26 concert season is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and by the Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation.
