The New York Pops Celebrates the Holiday Season With Sleigh Bells Ring

Featuring Derek Klena and Lindsay Mendez; On December 18 and 19 at Carnegie Hall

New York, NY (November 12, 2026) — The New York Pops celebrates the most festive time of year with its annual concert tradition on Friday, December 18 and Saturday, December 19, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. Led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, Sleigh Bells Ring features Derek Klena (Tony Award nominee; Broadway’s Wicked, Jagged Little Pill) and Lindsay Mendez (Tony Award winner; Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along, Carousel) together with Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA in a festive evening of classic carols and new holiday favorites.

“Our annual holiday concert is always one of my absolute favorite shows of the season!” said New York Pops Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke. “This year, we look forward to filling Carnegie Hall with joy, hope, and magic alongside our friends Derek Klena, Lindsay Mendez, and Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA. We’ll see you there!”

The New York Pops additionally presents One Night Only: An Evening with Denée Benton and Jordan Donica on November 20, 2026; Introducing…Jimmie Herrod and Marisha Wallace on February 5, 2027; and John Williams and Steven Spielberg: Movie Magic on March 5, 2027 in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

Program Information
THE NEW YORK POPS
Sleigh Bells Ring
Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Derek Klena, Guest Artist
Lindsay Mendez, Guest Artist
Essential Voices USA, Judith Clurman, Music Director and Conductor

Friday, December 18, 2026 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 19, 2026 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall

Tickets are available via carnegiehall.org, at 212-247-7800, or the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th and Seventh.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The New York Pops Carnegie Hall Subscription Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

About the Artists
Comprised of 78 musicians, The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, now in its 44th season as the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual concert series at Carnegie Hall and is among the venue’s most presented ensembles. The New York Pops’ star-studded annual Birthday Gala is celebrated each spring, raising vital funds for the orchestra and its education programs. Recent Gala honorees include Clive Davis, Kristen and Bobby Lopez, Barry Manilow, and Stephen Schwartz.

The New York Pops celebrates the richness of popular music’s evolving songbook. Every concert is a unique experience, with influences that range from Broadway melodies to film scores, jazz, rock, pop, and more. The orchestra collaborates with stars from the stage and screen including Sara Bareilles, Kristen Bell, Clive Davis, Father John Misty, Sutton Foster, Montego Glover, Capathia Jenkins, Carly Rae Jepsen, Angela Lansbury, Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Norm Lewis, Barry Manilow, Jason Mraz, Kelli O’Hara, LeAnn Rimes, Adrienne Warren, Dionne Warwick, Miss Piggy, and many others.

Through its PopsEd music education programs, The New York Pops fulfills its dedication to lifelong learning and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Each year, PopsEd provides thousands of New York City public school students with arts access, performance opportunities, and in-school music instruction. These programs develop and mentor the next generation of musicians and music lovers from diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic groups.

PopsEd residency programs blend traditional education with pure fun, utilizing tools like composition, lyric writing, and performance to foster learning and unbridled creativity. In doing so, PopsEd excites students and gives them skills they can apply to all areas of their lives. The orchestra’s Kids on Stage program invites middle school music students to experience the professional performance process, including audition and rehearsal, culminating in a performance alongside New York Pops musicians at the orchestra’s annual Birthday Gala. Through its Kids in the Balcony and Kids in the Stadium programs, thousands of children and their parents have had an opportunity to see The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and Forest Hills Stadium free of charge. To date, PopsEd programs have served over 100,000 New York City students.

Over the years, the orchestra has performed in iconic New York City venues like Forest Hills Stadium and Radio City Music Hall; presented free concerts in city parks, community organizations, senior centers, and public libraries; performed the National Anthem at sports venues; and toured throughout the world. Past media projects include the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC Television, a nationally syndicated radio series, and performances on PBS. The orchestra’s discography encompasses recordings of popular standards, theater and film scores, and music for the holidays.

The New York Pops was founded by Ruth and Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to bring the joy of popular music and orchestral performance to all five boroughs of New York City – from concert halls to classrooms – through programming, education, and community partnerships that inspire today’s audiences and nurture tomorrow’s musicians. The New York Pops is a non-profit organization supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, corporate sponsorships, and concert income.

Follow The New York Pops on Facebook (facebook.com/thenewyorkpops) and Instagram (@thenewyorkpops).

Steven Reineke is one of North America's leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He is the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Reineke has had the pleasure of working with some of the nation’s greatest orchestras, and can be seen regularly on the podiums of the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, LA Philharmonic, and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, among many others.

On stage, Mr. Reineke creates and collaborates with a range of leading artists in hip-hop, R & B, Broadway, television, and rock including Killer Mike, Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Ne-Yo, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Barry Manilow, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Amos Lee, Dispatch, Jason Mraz, and Ben Folds, amongst others. In 2024, he led the NSO on PBS’ Next at the Kennedy Center featuring Ben Folds DeClassified with Jacob Collier, Laufey, and dodie. He was previously seen with the NSO on PBS’ Great Performances with hip-hop legend Nas performing his seminal album “Illmatic." Reineke is the conductor on “Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner’s “So Fragile, So Blue” with The National Symphony Orchestra. In November 2025, Reineke was joined on the podium by NFL legend Marshawn Lynch, who visited the Houston Symphony ahead of Thursday Night Football, for a conducting tutorial featured in his Amazon Prime show, “N Yo City.”

As the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements, Reineke’s work is performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings. His symphonic works “Celebration Fanfare,” “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “Casey at the Bat” are performed frequently in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His “Sun Valley Festival Fanfare” was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his pieces “Festival Te Deum” and “Swan’s Island Sojourn” were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands perennially.

A native of Ohio, Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal) where he earned Bachelor of Music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition.

Derek Klena is currently starring as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby on Broadway, following a year touring the country singing and pitching for the Savannah Bananas! He previously returned to Broadway as Fiyero  in Wicked, where he made his Broadway debut during its 10th Anniversary in 2013. Derek also succeeded Aaron Tveit as Christian in Moulin Rouge! and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for originating Nick Healy in Alanis Morissette’s critically acclaimed Jagged Little Pill.

Derek broke onto the NYC theatre scene in the 2012 Off-Broadway revival of Carrie, catching the attention of EGOT winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who cast him opposite Lindsay Mendez as Eddie Birdlace in Dogfight, earning him a Clive Barnes Award nomination. He also originated Michael Johnson in Jason Robert Brown’s The Bridges of Madison County and Dmitry in Ahrens, Flaherty, and McNally’s Anastasia on Broadway. Additional credits include Joe Gillis opposite Stephanie J. Block in Kennedy Center’s Sunset Boulevard; Unknown Soldier (Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Trip Cullman); Diner (Signature Theatre, by Sheryl Crow and Barry Levinson); and Hairspray (Hollywood Bowl, directed by Jerry Mitchell).

On television, Derek portrayed Wes in MAX’s “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” and DJ Fingablast in Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s Netflix comedy “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”. Additional credits include “City on a Hill”, “The Code”, “A Holiday Spectacular”, and “Private Princess”.

Lindsay Mendez most recently dazzled audiences as Aldonza in Lincoln Center Theater’s Gala production of Man Of La Mancha directed by Bartlett Sher. Prior to that, she starred in the critically acclaimed Tony Award winning Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along opposite Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe; the filmed version of this production was released in theaters across the country courtesy of Sony Pictures. Mendez reprised her Tony nominated performance as Mary Flynn from the NYTW run, which garnered her the Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League, Drama Desk & Lortel nominations. Mendez won the Tony Award as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance as Carrie Pipperidge in the 2018 revival of Carousel.

On television, she may currently be seen in “Elsbeth” for CBS/Paramount +. Mendez previously starred in the FX anthology series “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” from Executive Producer Ryan Murphy as well as the Warner Bros television drama “All Rise” for CBS and OWN.

Other Broadway credits include: Significant Other, Wicked (Elphaba, 10th Anniversary company), Godspell, Everyday Rapture, Grease. Off-Broadway/regional credits include: The Golden Apple (City Center Encores!), Dogfight (Second Stage; Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle nominations), The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival), 35mm, The Winter’s Tale (Delacorte Theater).

In addition to a debut album titled "This Time," her concert work includes appearances with Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, the Library of Congress in Washington DC, the Kennedy Center, Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC, Lyrics and Lyricists, the San Diego Symphony and the American Pops Orchestra. Other television and film credits include: “Law & Order: SVU,” “Station 19,” “Elementary,” “Modern Family," "Smash," "Murphy Brown," Joanna Gleason’s feature debut “The Grotto,” and most recently the independent film “These Little Ones Perish."

In 2012, Mendez co-founded Actor Therapy, a training and mentorship program that she runs in New York City, with composer Ryan Scott Oliver. In 2026, BenBella published the duo’s first book, How To Succeed in Musical Theater Without Really Dying: The Actor’s Guide to Booking Work and Building a Career That Lasts.

Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and major cultural events, including NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, NBC’s Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, and President Obama’s inaugural activities. The ensemble commissions and premieres new music, collaborates with leading artists, and presents The Composer Speaks, a series celebrating contemporary composers. Its recordings include Washington Women, Christmas Joy, and Words Matter. During the 2026–2027 season, EVUSA will return to Carnegie Hall, release an album of classical works by Trude Rittmann, and present a concert celebrating her remarkable life and music. The ensemble will also continue its Community Project, a series of concerts, workshops, and educational events throughout New York City that brings people of all ages together through music.

Conductor Judith Clurman has received two Emmy nominations and a Grammy nomination. Her career spans concert music, theater, film, television, and ballet. A champion of American music, Ms Clurman has commissioned and conducted works by more than seventy composers, including Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, Tania León, Nico Muhly, Stephen Schwartz, and Howard Shore. Her collaborations include the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet, The New York Pops, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and American Composers Orchestra. She has recorded more than twenty CDs on the Acis, Albany, Decca, New World, and Sono Luminus labels, and conducted the choral music for the Sony film The Song of Names. Formerly Director of Choral Activities at The Juilliard School and a vocal specialist with the National Endowment for the Arts/Columbia University Institute of Classical Music, Ms Clurman currently teaches voice at the Manhattan School of Music and edits two choral series for Hal Leonard. Clurman’s association with The New York Pops dates to 1997, while Essential Voices USA has performed with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall since 2010.

Photo of Derek Klena by Jenny Anderson; photo of Lindsay Mendez by Matthew Murphy

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