Top Boston Concert Picks for the Holiday Season

Well the holiday season is officially upon us—a season for giving, a season for good cheer, a season for music. So to help you wade through the bevy of live music options out there over the coming weeks, Boston Public Radio's Edgar B. Herwick III gathered a few area music experts and taste makers and convened a special holiday version of the BPR concert roundtable for musical omnivores. Here are some of the panel's "don't miss" picks: 

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Credit Kyle T. Hemingway / Handel & Haydn Society

A trumpeter from the Handel and Haydn Society

Sarah Rodman: popular music reporter for The Boston Globe

• David Wax Museum, Dec. 1 at The Sinclair in Cambridge
• Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Dec. 6 at the Sinclair in Cambridge
• Band of Horses, Dec. 9 at the Paradise in Boston
• Concrete Blonde, Dec. 12 at the Sinclair in Cambridge
• The Roots, Dec. 26 at the House of Blues
• Lori McKenna, Dec. 23, Club Passim
• Leonard Cohen,  Dec. 15 Citi Wang
• Jamey Johnson, Dec. 19, Royale
• Sufjan Stevens, Dec. 20, Royale

Rob Hayes: Berklee College of Music

• The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra Plays Faust, "Sounds of Silents" series, Coolidge Corner Theater, Dec. 17
• John Scofield and Uberjam, Berklee Performance Center, Dec. 31,  9PM. Matthew Halpin's Earwax Control opens at 7:30PM.
• Emily Elbert, Dec. 31, Modern Theater
• The Gibson Brothers, Jan. 12, Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington

Brian McCreath: host and producer for WGBH's Classical New England

• ​Blue Heron, Dec. 21, 22, First Church in Cambridge
• Bach: Christmas Oratorio, Dec. 1, Emmanuel Church in Boston
• Handel Messiah, Nov. 30-Dec. 2, Symphony Hall Boston
• Discovery Ensemble, Dec. 2, Sanders Theatre in Cambridge