In our 16th Annual Holiday Concert, we’ll immerse ourselves in music composed in Central and South America during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The mixture of styles was exceedingly complex and constantly changing as Indigenous cultures interacted not only with each other but also with influences from Europe, primarily in the form of Spanish and Portuguese colonization and persistent proselytizing and religious conversion by the Catholic Church. From what is modern-day Mexico, we’ll hear villancicos (Christmas Carols) and other masterworks by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (c. 1590–1664) and Gaspar Fernandez (c. 1566–1629) who both worked at the great cathedral in Puebla. Their music creatively and consistently integrates indigenous and European models. 

We’ll also hear Serenísima una Noche, a villancico by Fr. Jerónimo González de Mendoza (c. 1633–1661) from Puebla and a beautiful lullaby Xicochi Conetzintle adapted by Fernandez in Nahuatl, a prominent Indigenous language in Mexico. The program features several songs from a remarkable 1785 collection known as the Trujillo Codex. Assembled by Bishop Martinez for the King of Spain, the Codex brought together over 1400 watercolor paintings and musical scores documenting Indigenous life (people, customs, flora, fauna, and geography) in colonial Peru. We’ll hear the elegant cantata O Daliso for soprano and continuo by Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) (an Italian Jesuit who worked in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru); the thrilling and jaunty tenor solo, Vaya de Jácara, Amigos, by Guatemalan composer Raphael Castellanos (1725–1791); and a recorder arrangement of an 18th-century Bolivian song La Matutina Estrella.

In our 16th Annual Holiday Concert, we’ll immerse ourselves in music composed in Central and South America during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The mixture of styles was exceedingly complex and constantly changing as Indigenous cultures interacted not only with each other but also with influences from Europe, primarily in the form of Spanish and Portuguese colonization and persistent proselytizing and religious conversion by the Catholic Church. From what is modern-day Mexico, we’ll hear villancicos (Christmas Carols) and other masterworks by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (c. 1590–1664) and Gaspar Fernandez (c. 1566–1629) who both worked at the great cathedral in Puebla. Their music creatively and consistently integrates indigenous and European models. 

We’ll also hear Serenísima una Noche, a villancico by Fr. Jerónimo González de Mendoza (c. 1633–1661) from Puebla and a beautiful lullaby Xicochi Conetzintle adapted by Fernandez in Nahuatl, a prominent Indigenous language in Mexico. The program features several songs from a remarkable 1785 collection known as the Trujillo Codex. Assembled by Bishop Martinez for the King of Spain, the Codex brought together over 1400 watercolor paintings and musical scores documenting Indigenous life (people, customs, flora, fauna, and geography) in colonial Peru. We’ll hear the elegant cantata O Daliso for soprano and continuo by Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) (an Italian Jesuit who worked in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru); the thrilling and jaunty tenor solo, Vaya de Jácara, Amigos, by Guatemalan composer Raphael Castellanos (1725–1791); and a recorder arrangement of an 18th-century Bolivian song La Matutina Estrella.

In our 16th Annual Holiday Concert, we’ll immerse ourselves in music composed in Central and South America during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The mixture of styles was exceedingly complex and constantly changing as Indigenous cultures interacted not only with each other but also with influences from Europe, primarily in the form of Spanish and Portuguese colonization and persistent proselytizing and religious conversion by the Catholic Church. From what is modern-day Mexico, we’ll hear villancicos (Christmas Carols) and other masterworks by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (c. 1590–1664) and Gaspar Fernandez (c. 1566–1629) who both worked at the great cathedral in Puebla. Their music creatively and consistently integrates indigenous and European models. 

We’ll also hear Serenísima una Noche, a villancico by Fr. Jerónimo González de Mendoza (c. 1633–1661) from Puebla and a beautiful lullaby Xicochi Conetzintle adapted by Fernandez in Nahuatl, a prominent Indigenous language in Mexico. The program features several songs from a remarkable 1785 collection known as the Trujillo Codex. Assembled by Bishop Martinez for the King of Spain, the Codex brought together over 1400 watercolor paintings and musical scores documenting Indigenous life (people, customs, flora, fauna, and geography) in colonial Peru. We’ll hear the elegant cantata O Daliso for soprano and continuo by Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) (an Italian Jesuit who worked in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru); the thrilling and jaunty tenor solo, Vaya de Jácara, Amigos, by Guatemalan composer Raphael Castellanos (1725–1791); and a recorder arrangement of an 18th-century Bolivian song La Matutina Estrella.

Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart] is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name; he has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition.—Joseph Haydn to Leopold Mozart in 1785

This program celebrates Mozart’s astonishing spiritual range from the unbridled joy and Italianate lyricism of the string serenade Eine Kleine Nachtmusik to the consummate lyricism and grace of Laudate Dominum’s solo soprano (Mozart’s favorite voice to write for); from the inimitable way he could say goodbye as in Così fan tutte’s famous Terzetto Soave sia il vento (conjuring in sound the warmest hug, the most profound look in the eye) to the Requiem’s dramatic consideration of mortal life’s end.

Early in 1791, Mozart was approached with a mysterious and anonymous commission to compose music for a requiem. Though his health was failing, he took on the commission at full force, eventually becoming haunted that the work was for his own death. Mozart had not yet completed Requiem by the time of his death in December 1791, but his pupil, Süssmayr, finished the work with a convincing 18th-century sensibility. This is the version which has been performed thousands of times ever since, including at Chopin’s funeral in 1849.

PROGRAM: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, Laudate Dominum, K. 339, Soave sia il vento (from Così fan tutte, K. 588), Requiem, K. 626

Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart] is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name; he has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition.—Joseph Haydn to Leopold Mozart in 1785

This program celebrates Mozart’s astonishing spiritual range from the unbridled joy and Italianate lyricism of the string serenade Eine Kleine Nachtmusik to the consummate lyricism and grace of Laudate Dominum’s solo soprano (Mozart’s favorite voice to write for); from the inimitable way he could say goodbye as in Così fan tutte’s famous Terzetto Soave sia il vento (conjuring in sound the warmest hug, the most profound look in the eye) to the Requiem’s dramatic consideration of mortal life’s end.

Early in 1791, Mozart was approached with a mysterious and anonymous commission to compose music for a requiem. Though his health was failing, he took on the commission at full force, eventually becoming haunted that the work was for his own death. Mozart had not yet completed Requiem by the time of his death in December 1791, but his pupil, Süssmayr, finished the work with a convincing 18th-century sensibility. This is the version which has been performed thousands of times ever since, including at Chopin’s funeral in 1849.

PROGRAM: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, Laudate Dominum, K. 339, Soave sia il vento (from Così fan tutte, K. 588), Requiem, K. 626