By Daniel Buckwalter

The Advent season is here, and if you’re in the mood tonight for lush chamber music to ring in the season and participate in holiday singalongs, the Oregon Mozart Players have just the concert for you.

OMP’s second and final night of its annual Candlelight — Spirit of the Season performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 in the lovely sanctuary of Central Presbyterian Church near the University of Oregon.

Based on the first performance, led by conductor Kelly Kuo and played before a large and strong audience, I can tell you that it’s a relaxing evening of rich sounds that include Gregorian chants as well as an abundance of holiday cheer for patrons.

The concert opens with Dominus dixit ad me, an introit (entrance to a religious service) chant in Latin, marking the first liturgy of Christmas and honoring the nativity. It is sung by the musicians to a solo French horn.

There was some concern about musicians actually singing the chant, as Kuo jokingly noted before the performance. Often, he rightfully said, musicians are paid not to sing. Yet the handful of musicians who participated in the chant pulled it off well on Friday night, and it is a good start to the concert.

From there, there are arrangements of O Come, O Come Emmanuel as well as music from Italian composer Gaetano Maria Schiassi and French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart makes a musical appearance with the second movement of Concerto for Flute and Harp. This spotlights the performance of flutist Jill Pauls and harpist Jane Allen, and it is graceful, almost angelic.

Before the singalongs, there is composer Michi Wiancko’s La Folia Variations for String Orchestra, a tribute to Italian violinist and composer Francesco Geminiani, whose beautiful works from the 1700s seem largely to have been forgotten.

Then be sure to have your vocal pipes ready for singalong carols with OMP, including Joy to the World, O Come, All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and the beloved Silent Night.

It should be an enjoyable and festive Saturday night at Central Presbyterian Church.

Oregon Mozart Players Advent Concert

When: 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023

Where: Central Presbyterian Church, 555 E. 15th Ave., Eugene

Tickets: $5 and up, available in advance online at oregonmozartplayers.org, or at the event