Looking for Christmas music imbued with mystery and majesty? Search no further than France. Seasonal music by mid-twentieth-century French composers like Poulenc and Villette is richly imbued by harmonies and phrasing that convey a unique sensibility. Sacred works by their prominent contemporaries, Duruflé and Messiaen, further paint the harmonic picture. And this special sound didn’t spring from nowhere. One can even hear it in early Renaissance masters such as Dufay, Ockeghem, and Josquin. This concert mixes the sacred and the secular to bring a broad view of French holiday music. Come to hear the special sounds of a French Christmas.

• Olivier Messiaen: O sacrum convivium

• Maurice Duruflé: Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens

• Francis Poulenc: Un soir de neige

• Claude Debussy: Yver, vous n'estes qu'un villain

• Guillaume Dufay: Ave regina cælorum

• Johannes Ockeghem: Ave Maria

• Josquin des Prez: Ave Maria … virgo serena

• Francis Poulenc: Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël
   

Saturday, Dec. 3

    7:30 p.m.