Concert Season 2008-2009

The charm of the season shines beautifully in this selection of Christmas music from France. The Cascadian Chorale presents the Messe de Minuit pour Noel (Christmas Midnight Mass) by the Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier along with Poulenc’s Christmas motets and traditional French carols, such as Angels We Have Heard on High and O Holy Night. Feelings of both majesty and intimacy are captured in these seasonal delights, sung in English, Latin, and French.

When Johannes Brahms penned Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), he found marvelous expression for the two faces of grief: anxiety and hope. The Cascadian Chorale presents the version accompanied by piano four-hands, arranged by the composer himself for the work’s premiere in England. Sung in German, the power of this music needs no translation.

Our season ends with a light-hearted program of animal-themed music.  Drawing from both secular and sacred traditions, we showcase music from the Renaissance to today and every era in between.  With the serenity of Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus, the levity of Z. Randall Stroope’s Old Horatius Had a Farm, and the beauty of Haydn partsongs, this is a concert sure to put a smile in your heart.