South Bend, IN — The South Bend Symphony Orchestra invites families to kick off the holiday season with A Very Merry Symphony Sleigh Ride Adventure on Sunday, November 29, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Part of the Shein Trust Community Series, this family-friendly concert takes audiences on a musical journey through holiday traditions from around the world.
Led by guest conductor Fernanda Lastra, the full orchestra will bring the sounds of the season to life with a program filled with familiar favorites and festive discoveries. Audiences will hear the playful March of the Toys from Babes in Toyland, Prokofiev’s spirited Troika, the beloved Carol of the Bells, and a medley of holiday traditions in Festive Sounds of Hanukah. The program also features Feliz Navidad, Patapan, Silent Night, and a sing-along performance of Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival.
From carols to symphonic favorites, A Very Merry Symphony Sleigh Ride Adventure offers an opportunity for audiences of all ages to experience the holiday season through music and traditions from across cultures. Doors open one hour before the performance, come early to participate in a festive craft!
The Shein Trust Community Series is made possible through the generous support of Shein Family Trust. The South Bend Symphony Orchestra is grateful for their commitment to artistic innovation and our community.
TICKETS
Online – www.southbendsymphony.org
Phone – Morris Performing Arts Center Box Office 574-235-9190
(10 am – 4 pm, Tuesday & Wednesday, 10 am – 5:30 pm, Thursday & Friday)
In-person – Visit the Morris Box Office (211 N. Michigan St., South Bend) during the times listed above or two hours before any performance.
To VIEW the 2026-27 Season schedule, visit www.southbendsymphony.org
Dates, programs, and venues are subject to change.
For questions or media appearances, please contact Sarah Perschbacher, sperschbacher@southbendsymphony.org or 574-230-4875
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About the South Bend Symphony Orchestra
The South Bend Symphony inspires, entertains, and connects the community with the transformative power of orchestral music. Producing more than 20 mainstage programs each year and nearly 70 smaller ensemble concerts, the Symphony serves more than 30,000 attendees annually. As the region’s only professional orchestra, the Symphony is dedicated to cultivating a vibrant, interconnected arts community in support of South Bend and the broader Michiana region.
The South Bend Symphony Orchestra has earned recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as Indiana Arts Commission and local arts funding organizations. It is also the recipient of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County’s Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence, which honors the best-run nonprofit organization in St. Joseph County, Indiana.
Learn more about the South Bend Symphony Orchestra at www.southbendsymphony.org.
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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, 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, the South Bend Symphony, 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.