Christmas Majesty December 8, 2012

This holiday season Bay Choral Guild presents Christmas Majesty, a Christmas Concert unlike any you've ever heard! We are very excited to have two outstanding instrumentalists join us for this concert - Harpist Meredith Clark and oboist Adrienne Malley. They will perform in the second half of the program, accompanying the chorus in a collection of Christmas favorites including Britten's wonderful and rhythmically energetic, "A Ceremony of Carols" and a delightful arrangement of "The Holly and the Ivy".

In the first half of the show, we focus on Advent as we perform various contemporary settings of the Great O Antiphons. These brief prayers, each one starting with the word "O," refer to Christ by alternate images; O Wisdom, O Root of Jesse, O King of the Nations, etc. Originally simple plainsong chants sung during the seven days leading up to Christmas, 20th century composers began using these texts as the basis for seven-movement Advent cantatas. We've combined sections from three of these cantatas by three living composers: the Polish composer, Pawel Lukaszewski, Estonian Arvo Paart, and Seattle-based John Muehleisen. By turns meditative and spirited, these works create a musical experience you won't soon forget!

So enrich your holidays and join us for this unusual concert! We will perform in Campbell and San Francisco at our usual venues - Campbell United Methodist and St Gregory of Nyssa. However we are very pleased to have a new performance space in Palo Alto - the First Baptist Church on North California Avenue. Contact your favorite BCG chorister for tickets or purchase from our website. It's going to be a wonderful event!

Official Website: http://www.baychoralguild.org