Our 40th season opens with the festive music of Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel. Purcell pays homage to St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, with his glorious Hail! Bright Cecilia, written in 1692. We pair this masterwork with Handel's Acis and Galatea, an oft-performed work of the early 1700s. Bay Area tenor Brian Thorsett and soprano Ann Moss portray the lovers, and bass Jeffrey Fields, the comical one-eyed giant Polyphemus. A Baroque string orchestra with flutes, oboes, timpani, and trumpets accompanies the chorus.

In December, the holiday season comes alive with the radiance and grace of Johann Rosenmüller's Weihnachtshistorie (Christmas Story). This splendid program brings together selections of sacred choral music for the Nativity from 17th century Leipzig, following the example of acclaimed German director, lutenist, and early music specialist Conrad Junghänel. Paul Flight is thrilled to bring Rosenmüller's rarely performed compositions to Bay Area audiences. We are delighted to feature Stephen Escher, cornetto virtuoso of The Whole Noyse.

Dietrich Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri (1680) is a set of seven short cantatas for Holy Week, its text attributed to medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain. It is a cycle of mystical contemplations on the body of the crucified Christ - the feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart, and face. The cantatas are composed of concerti, solos and trios, and exquisite choral sections. Although rarely performed, Buxtehude's work is one of the most expressive and poignant vocal pieces of the Baroque Period.

Our final program showcases the beautiful motets and partsongs of Johannes Brahms and his musical forebears Bach, Schütz, Schein, and Hassler. Schütz's polychoral compositions inspired Brahms' celebratory motets of Fest und Gedenksprüche, opus 109. Brahms' lovely Schaffe in mir, Gott displays imitative polyphony and canonic writing reminiscent of Schütz's Selig sind die Toten and Schein's Die mit Tränen säen. Brahms' love of German folk music and poetry shines through his partsongs Der bucklichte Fiedler, Dein Herzlein mild, and In stiller Nacht.