Vocal Arts Ensemble: O Holy Night: Darkness into Light

This holiday season, the 36 voices of the Vocal Arts Ensemble will present their annual winter concert, which brings together seasonal themes of darkness giving way to light and unquenched hope for renewal. The performance features various styles of choral music unified by these themes. British composer Joanna Marsh sets an image-laden secular poem by Jane Draycott, “In winter’s house,” using dramatically original musical language. By contrast, American composer Abbie Betinis takes the classic melody of the “In the bleak midwinter” carol and surrounds it with lush, evocative vocal lines. The concert includes both well-known choral music from the past, like Palestrina’s “Hodie Christus natus est” and Rachmaninoff’s “Salvation is created,” and less familiar recent music, with works by two Venezuelan composers and a thrilling setting of Tennyson’s poem “Ring out, wild bells” by Jonathan Dove that virtually explodes into a joyous call for a changed world. The concert will also feature Arvo Pärt’s stunning setting of the Magnificat plus the winner of VAE’s audience poll for their favorite holiday piece: Biebl’s “Ave Maria.”