‘Music for Christmas’ concerts scheduled in trio of venues

The 43rd annual program of “Music for Christmas,” presented by the New England Chamber Choir & Chamber Ensemble, Richard Wm. Donohue, conductor, will be presented in three venues around the state.

The concert will include the music of Benjamin Britten, Sydney Carter, Bob Chilcott, Richard Wm. Donohue, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Thomas Stoltzer, and Orlando di Lasso along with carols sung in German, French, and 15th-century English.

Performances will be held on Sunday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m. at Saint Anthony of Padua Church, 49 South St., Litchfield; Sunday, Dec. 1,0 at 4 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 183 William St., Portland; and on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 4 p.m., at Saint Paul Church, 2577 Main St., Glastonbury.

Donohue has led the members of the New England Chamber Choir in Music for Christmas for 43 years. This annual program explores the extraordinary repertoire of music inspired by the traditions of Christmas. Music for Christmas XLIII will feature the New England Chamber Choir, Treble Choir and Chamber Ensemble. A reception will follow the concert. Admission to the concert is free but donations benefit the work of the New England Chamber Choir.

To learn more about this concert or the New England Chamber Choir in general, visit Newenglandchamberchoir.org

Honoring a tradition which began in 1974, Donohue has assembled a magnificent program of works spanning eleven centuries. With the singers along the rear aisle of the church, Music for Christmas XLIII opens with a Gregorian chant Hodie Nobis Caelorum Rex-“On this day, the lord of Heaven is born to us…”

A single voice begins the choir’s traditional procession, John Goss’s “See Amid the Winter’s Snow.”

The concert continues with works of Benjamin Britten, Sydney Carter, Bob Chilcott, Donohue, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Thomas Stoltzer, and Orlando di Lasso along with carols sung in German, French and 15thcentury English.

Midway though the performance the young voices of the Treble Choir ring out from the back of the hall with “O du fröhliche.” They too process to the front and join the choir for the remainder of the concert.

All in attendance unite their voices for the recessional carol “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.”

Following the 43-year old praxis,” Music for Christmas” ends with Franz Grüber’s miraculous “Stille Nacht,” which sounds forth loudly that “Christ the Saviour is here.”