Our 2022–23 season continues Sunday, December 11, as BCS invites the Bloomington community to ring in the holiday season with an afternoon of carols. The program features the sopranos and altos of BCS singing Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols with harp accompaniment, and the tenors and basses answering with Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest for chorus, harp, guitar, and marimba. The concert will conclude with On Christmas Night, by Bob Chilcott, a musical celebration of the Christmas story. Conducted by Music Director Gerald Sousa and Assistant Conductor Caio Lopes, the concert will take place at 3 pm at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, 100 N. State Road 46, Bloomington.

One of Britten’s most popular works, A Ceremony of Carols is based on 14th-century Middle English lyrics and carols, as well as from seasonal poetry written in the 16th century. It draws on familiar seasonal themes: the baby, Jesu; Mary, the rose of virtue who bore him; and the “happy fault” of Adam’s sin that led to Christmas joy. Britten composed the work in 1942 while crossing from the United States to Britain aboard a cargo ship.

Conrad Susa wrote Carols and Lullabies as a companion piece to Britten’s work. It is based on a collection of traditional Spanish carols popular in the southwestern United States, blended with the image of a piñata party for the baby Jesus, adding guitar and marimba to Britten’s harp.

On Christmas Night is made up of eight carol settings that follow the sequence of the Christmas story—from the fall of Adam, through the promise of a child’s coming and the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, to the birth of the baby Jesus. Chilcott incorporated the texts and melodies of several traditional carols into his settings.

Location: St. Mark’s United Methodist Church (100 N St Rd 46 Bloomington, IN)

Sunday, December 11 at 3 pm

Tickets: $20 General Admission, $15 Student In-Person Admission, $20 Livestream

Buy tickets online or at the door.