Christmas Concert with Koncertforeningens Kor, cond. Harold Thalange

For Christmas 2026, Koncertforeningens Kor has put together a Christmas programme centred on two somewhat longer, atmospheric works – Jean Sibelius's "Viisi joululaulua" (Five Christmas Songs, 1897-1913) and Reena Esmail's "A Winter Breviary" (2022), supplemented by a number of short and familiar movements, several of them arranged by Harold Thalange, the choir's new conductor. Sibelius's work is a collection of classic Finnish Christmas songs, originally composed for solo voice and piano with texts primarily by Zacharias Topelius, arranged for mixed choir by the Finnish musician and arranger Anna Huuskonen in 2017. Reene Esmail (b. 1983) is an American composer with Indian roots, and "A Winter Breviary" is a musical meeting of cultures between classical Western music and traditional Hindustani ragas. The work consists of three carols with texts by the poet Rebecca Gayle Howell. The texts, which follow the liturgical hours (evensong, night service and morning prayer) and the corresponding Indian ragas (Raag Hamsadhwani, Malkauns and Ahir Bhairav) through the longest night of the year, the winter solstice, are a tribute to the darkness and the return of the light. Price: Free admission

• Dirigent: Harold Thalange