An elite group of New York choral singers come together to present a programs of mostly-medieval christmas and advent music for the holiday season. Your support benefits the 2025-2026 Concert Series, including support for the current concert and beyond.

From the Director:

Christmas is my favorite time of year, the lights, the snow, the seasonal beverages, family, and of course the music — all combine to create a feeling far larger than any of those components individually.  For many of us, music is the true gateway into the holidays — my mother still expects hymn singing from us kids, we shuffle our feet, slightly embarrassed but mom usually gets what mom wants.

I am so very pleased to have you here for this (second) premiere performance of Consensus: a new ensemble created to bring small-ensemble choral music to the Hudson Valley, and what better way to introduce ourselves to you, than with a program of Christmas (and advent) music.

Consensus started in 2004, when 4 nerdy choral singers met at a Western Wind workshop and realized they had the odd ability to sing SATB, TTTB, Jazz, Classical, Early, Modern, and every other genre of music.  We had exactly one performance, made a recording, and were never heard from again — until today!

The music of the medieval period covers a vast range of time, from the 6th, all the way to the 15th century - 900 years of world events.  It feels a little insane to consider the Viking conquests and the founding of the Holy Roman Empire, in the same paragraph as the creation of the printing press and Columbus sailing to America.  In the same way, the music of this period changes dramatically, with the church exerting huge influence over what was “acceptable”.  Indeed, this is when the very notion of “western” music is created.  Before this period, and the church’s outsize influence, music was not written down precisely (no notation yet existed), and was largely the work of improvisers — the major and minor scales that underpin western music now were only 2 of 8 commonly used scales, some of which you may hear this evening if you listen closely.