CBS: Christmas Music from Three Centuries

Design by David Lance Goins used for the California Bach Society poster

As expected, California Bach Society (CBS) has prepared its next program for the holiday season. The full title of the program will be Laudate Coeli: Songs of Light in Winter’s Deep. (Note that, like the first program of the season last month, the title couples Latin and English!) Artistic Director Nate Widelitz will conduct. The vocal soloists will be soprano Rita Lilly, mezzo Mindy Ella Chu, tenor Corey Head, and bass Chung-Wai Soong. Instrumental accompaniment by strings, organ, and harp will be provided by members of the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra.

The program will be based on three centuries, but they will not be consecutive. The earliest composers will be from the seventeenth century: Dietrich Buxtehude (the BuxWV 13 for mixed chorus, strings, and continuo, “Das neugeborne Kindelein”) and two selections by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, “In nativitatem Domini canticum” (H.314) and one of the ten settings of the Magnificat canticle. The seventeenth century is then elided with two nineteenth-century compositions: the Oratorio de Noël by Camille Saint-Saëns and “O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf,” the second of the two Opus 74 sacred motets for unaccompanied mixed choir composed by Johannes Brahms. Finally, the twentieth-century composer will be Hugo Distler, whose oratorio Die Weihnachtsgeschichte (the Christmas story) is based on the hymn, “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen”(a rose has sprung up).

The San Francisco performance of this program will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, December 5. The venue will be the Trinity+St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, which is located 1620 Gough Street. Individual tickets are available for general admission at $40 with discounted rates for seniors and students. A Web page has been created for such tickets, as well as for three-concert subscriptions, which will also include the February and May performance at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Doors will open at 7 p.m.

Lacuna Arts will Use its Old First Concert for Fundraising

As has already been announced, the second concert in the eleventh season of the Lacuna Arts Chorale will be held in conjunction with the Old First Concerts series at Old First Church. The major work will be Hugo Distler’s 1933 setting of The Christmas Story in German, Die Weihnachtsgeschichte. This is structured around several choral variations of the carol “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” (lo, how a rose e’er blooming). The variations are separated by a chanted narrative of the Nativity from the Gospels with different characters sung by vocal soloists. The entire account is framed by opening and closing choruses. the “prequel” for this performance will be Arvo Pärt’s “Which was the son of …,” an enumeration of the genealogy leading up to Jesus.

This performance will be given in conjunction with Lacuna Arts’ Time for Harmony campaign. This is a fundraising effort based on the needs of the community rather than explicit support of an arts organization. For every dollar contributed to Lacuna Arts as part of this campaign, the members of the Chorale will make a matching gift to an advocacy organization, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and The Trevor Project. Donations may be pledged through a Web page on the Lacuna Arts Web site.

The concert itself will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, December 9. Old First Concerts take place at the Old First Church, located at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. General admission will be $20 with discounted rates of $17 for seniors and $5 or full-time students showing valid identification. Children aged twelve and under will still be admitted for free. In addition there is a $2 discount for tickets purchased online in advance from the event page for this concert on the Old First Concerts Web site. There is also a discount available for those parking at the Old First Parking Garage at 1725 Sacramento Street, just up the street from the church.

The fundraising event will take place the following morning, Saturday, December, beginning at 11 a.m. and lasting for about two hours. The Chorale will perform selections in a setting that will also include abundant food and drink. The venue will be the a.Muse Gallery, located in NEMIZ (NorthEast Mission Industrial Zone) at 614 Alabama Street.