Light in Winter

With the rare convergence of Hannukah, Christmas, and the Solstice, we look ahead to the new year and lengthening days with music of contemplation and renewal, of confronting darkness and rejoicing in light’s return. Welcome this festive season with music ancient and modern, beloved and new, by Barber, Crabtree, Guerrero, Houghton, Kodály, Lassus, Mallonée, Nixon, Poulenc, Strassburg, Taneyev and others.

The concert will include four world premieres, from composers Chihara, Armer, Houghton, and Crabtree.

Narrator and historian Stephen Wilson will be our guide for Light in Winter, weaving a tale through this beautiful program. Mr. Wilson, who studied historical linguistics at Yale and the University of California, Berkeley, has written on Native American languages, Arthurian literature, and Sanskrit — not all at the same time. After teaching linguistics and English at Berkeley, Stanford, Cal State East Bay and other schools and universities, he is now a member of the history department at the College Preparatory School in Oakland.