‘L.A. County Holiday Celebration’ Saturday December 24th Annual Event

L.A. County Holiday Celebration is a one-of-a-kind, free holiday spectacular that has been a Los Angeles holiday tradition since 1959.

The 63rd annual, two-time Emmy® award-winning event will feature 22 music ensembles, choirs and dance companies from the many neighborhoods and cultures that make up L.A. County. Returning with a live audience for the first time since 2019, the program will delight both the in-person audience at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 24 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and at-home audiences watching the live broadcast on PBS SoCal, as well as those streaming live on the pbssocal.org and kcet.org websites. Following the live broadcast it will be available to stream on-demand on the websites, as well as on the free PBS app. Encore broadcasts will be aired by PBS SoCal on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 6 p.m., and on KCET on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 11 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 25 at 6 p.m.

Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano and Emmy® award-winning television host Suzanna Guzmán returns as co-host for her ninth year, and will be joined by professional roller skater, skate choreographer and coach Candice Heiden.

Featuring colorful costumes and global sounds from Africa, China, India, Philippines, Mexico, Hawaii and more, this year’s participating artists hail from communities across Los Angeles County: from Santa Monica, West L.A. and Culver City in the west to Burbank, Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley in the east, and from the northern reaches of the Antelope and San Fernando Valleys to South Los Angeles and Rancho Palos Verdes.

Returning audience favorites include the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles; gospel singers Lorenzo Johnson & Praizum; all-women global soul ensemble ADAAWE; Grammy® award-winner Daniel Ho with Hawaiian hula dancers Hālau Hula Keali’i o Nālani; Philippine folk arts dance company Kayamanan Ng Lahi; all-female mariachi ensemble Las Colibrí; Mexican folkloric dance troupe Pacifico Dance Company; Palmdale High School student and alumni ensemble Palmdale Choral Union; world chamber music ensemble Quarteto Nuevo; Asian/country fusion musicians Sound of China Guzheng Ensemble; children’s ensembles MUSYCA Children’s Choir and Our Lady of the Angels Children’s Chorus; and Urban Voices Project, a choir comprised of men and women surviving homelessness on Skid Row.

New this year are 10-piece Latin jazz band Gabrielito y La Verdad; award-winning blues band Sista Jeans Blues Machine; hip-hop dance ensemble Temper Tantrum; all-kids a cappella group Squad Harmonix; secular a cappella choir Voices of Reason; modern kathak (North Indian classical dance) ensemble Shivam Arts Dance Company joined by Clarita Corona of Arte Flamenco; tap dance ensemble Reverb Tap Company; keepers of the Ballet Russe legacy Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre; and the California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley Vocal Arts Ensemble.

Tickets to the in-person event are free and available on a first–come, first–seated basis. Doors open at 2:30 p.m., although the line usually begins to form around noon.

The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is located at 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Parking is free in The Music Center parking garage.

The L.A. County Holiday Celebration is produced on behalf of the County of Los Angeles by The Music Center and PBS SoCal in association with CDK Productions and directed by Emmy® award-winning producer/director Kenneth Shapiro.

For more information, visit HolidayCelebration.org.

Preview by Jeff Zimerman