December, 2026
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Event Details
A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live at The Auditorium
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Date: December 12, 2026
Time: 1:00 PM
Venue: The Auditorium
About the Show:
This holiday season, A Charlie Brown Christmas comes to life like never before! Join Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Sally, and Schroeder live on stage in a festive, heartwarming symphonic performance.
An homage to the original beloved TV special, this production blends the iconic animations with spirited theatrical performances and live music from the Chicago Philharmonic, led by Maestro Fernanda Lastra. The Emmy and Peabody award-winning story by Charles M. Schulz has delighted millions since it debuted in 1965 and continues to captivate the hearts of every generation.
From Charlie Brown’s search for the meaning of Christmas to joyful holiday caroling, A Charlie Brown Christmas is everything you love about the holidays—brought to life with cherished traditions and childlike wonder. Don’t miss your chance to celebrate with the Peanuts Gang in this one-of-a-kind holiday symphonic event for all ages.
About the Chicago Philharmonic
The Chicago Philharmonic is re-imagining the orchestra concert experience through culturally diverse, genre-bending programs breaking barriers of exclusion in orchestral music. With nearly 200 musician members, trailblazing leadership, and a deeply collaborative artistic model, we are one of the most versatile, innovative, and ambitious orchestras in the country.
The Chicago Philharmonic presents 30+ concerts annually and year-round, featuring diverse musicians and drawing new-to-the-symphony audiences. Our audiences are 200,000+ strong, and our community engagement programs reach 6,000 students and participants annually. The Chicago Philharmonic proudly collaborates with the greatest artists of our time, in every genre. Recent partners include Artist in Residence Njioma Chinyere Grevious, Lucy Dacus, Justin Hurwitz, Bob Weir, Chicago composers Damien Geter and Stacy Garrop, Marta Aznavoorian, Sleeping At Last, Cedille Records, The Joffrey Ballet, The Auditorium, and Harris Theater for Music and Dance.
The Chicago Philharmonic Society was created by Lyric Opera principal musicians in 1989. Today, we are a crucial part of Chicago’s music ecosystem and an incubator of talent, creating thousands of jobs for 425 musicians annually and making Chicago a viable home for talented freelance musicians. As Executive Director, Crain’s Business 40 Under 40 awardee and APAP “Spark of Change” winner Terell Johnson has led the orchestra as a force for inclusion with a series of increasingly high-profile events, including the 2024 Lollapalooza debut as the first professional orchestra to perform at the festival to a global audience of 100,000+ live and on Hulu. The Chicago Philharmonic was recognized by the Illinois Council of Orchestras as “Orchestra of the Year” in 2026.
About Fernanda Lastra
Fernanda Lastra is an Argentine conductor with an international presence across American and Latin American orchestras.
Lastra brings to the podium a conviction that music holds more than any word can contain — and that a live orchestra, at its best, is where a community comes to experience that truth together.
Recent seasons have established Lastra as an active conductor with prominent American orchestras and institutions. She has served as cover conductor with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Portland Symphony Orchestra for two consecutive seasons, and with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. As a guest conductor, recent highlights include her appearance with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in the Masterworks Series, the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM (OFUNAM) in Mexico City, and her debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile. Upcoming engagements include the Lima Symphony, South Bend Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Orchestra Iowa. She is represented by Pura Musica Artists (Wiebke Küster) and Halac Artists (Désirée Halac).
From 2022 to 2025, Lastra served as Assistant Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in close collaboration with Music Director JoAnn Falletta. In this role she served as cover conductor across the orchestra’s full 40-week season and led the Family, Youth, and Summer concert series. In 2025 she was invited to conduct the classical subscription series in her final season, a milestone debut featuring pianist Avery Gagliano. Lastra holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa, a Master’s in orchestral conducting from Penn State University, and a Bachelor’s in orchestral conducting from La Plata University in Argentina.
