This exciting winter concert features a diverse range of works by seven different women from the middle ages to today, alongside Benjamin Britten\'s Ceremony of Carols. Among the performers are up-and-coming prizewinning harpist Hannah Cope, resident collaborator and composer Michael Garrepy, as well as some of the finest treble voices in the northeast. This is a concert event of comfort, joy, and exploration not to be missed!

The program centers on Benjamin Britten’s beloved Ceremony of Carols, a familiar and attractive work for audiences alongside works by seven female composers including medieval polymath and mystic Hildegard von Bingen, whose music is best characterized as mysterious, sensuous, and ethereal; Barbara Strozzi, 17th-century virtuoso singer and composer, whose dramatic music is now better known but whose sacred music is rarely performed; Imogen Holst, Gustav Holst’s only child and student of Benjamin Britten; French harp prodigy Henriette Renié; Elizabeth Poston, who beautifully set the text of a poem which first appeared in a New Hampshire hymnal in the late 18th century; Cecilia McDowall, now a celebrated and imaginative composer of choral music, and Joanna Marsh, one of the most exciting young voices of today. To round out the program, delight in a few well-known Christmas songs - a festive treat for everyone!

Sunday. December 5 at 2:30 PM, Blessed Sacrament Church, Providence, RI.

Can\'t join us on December 5? This program will also be presented in partnership with Newport Classical on December 3 and 4 and portions of the program will be available digitally just before Christmas.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through the Rhode Island Culture, Humanities, and Arts Recovery Grant (RI CHARG) program, made possible thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts via funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

Health and Safety Policies

The health and safety of our patrons is our utmost priority. As such, we expect that all attendees will be vaccinated against COVID-19. In keeping with other arts organizations across Rhode Island, masks will be required for all attendees, regardless of vaccination status, unless actively eating or drinking.

To further ensure the safety of all, all Ensemble Altera staff and musicians will be required to be fully vaccinated. Any artists with religious or health exceptions will be required to produce daily negative tests for the duration of the rehearsal and performance period. All artists will be tested regularly during the rehearsal and performance period. Anyone (staff or artist) feeling unwell will be asked to self-isolate and produce a negative test before returning. The chorus will perform unmasked, but will be kept at a minimum of 25 feet distance from the audience while singing.

Masks and sanitizing stations will be available at the entrances.