Meet The 'New' Western Wind This Sunday At The Church Of St. Luke

Since 1969, the Grammy-nominated Western Wind has devoted itself to the special beauty and variety of a cappella music. The ensemble's repertoire reveals its diverse background, from Renaissance motets to Fifties rock'n'roll, medieval carols to Duke Ellington, complex works by avant-garde composers to the simplest folk melodies.

This concert celebrates Christmas and Chanukah with a rich assortment of holiday music. It is the first NYC mainstage event for the sextet's "new" ensemble, which includes three new members.

The program features the world premiere of "And Yet The Light Returns" by Gerald Cohen, Robert Dennis' setting of Edna St. Vincent Millay's Christmas miracle poem "The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver," and Martha Sullivan's "Lazarus," a setting of Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus" that is found on the Statue of Liberty. The program also includes Renaissance Hebrew psalm settings by Salamone Rossi; Yiddish, Sephardic and Hebrew Chanukah Songs and Christmas music by César Carrillo, Charles Ives and Francis Poulenc.

The Western Wind's performing roster now includes sopranos Linda Lee Jones and Elizabeth van Os, countertenor Eric S. Brenner, tenors Todd Frizzell and David Vanderwal and baritone Elijah Blaisdell. They will be joined in this concert by Patricia Davis on violin and Will Holshouser on accordion.