December begins tomorrow, and that means only one thing: it’s time to take that special person in your life to a holiday concert. Do you want to subject him or her to the same old carols, something historical, or something really weird? Here is a list of your options, not including the many performances of Handel’s Messiah or The Nutcracker, to be previewed tomorrow.
THE BEST OF THE BEST:
>> For those who never want to attend the same old Christmas concert ever again (count me among them), the Folger Consort often gives the most intellectually and musically satisfying holiday concert in the city, in the decorated Shakespearean theater at the Folger Shakespeare Library (201 E. Capitol St SE). This year, the historically informed performance ensemble will give a staged production of the Second Shepherds’ Play, a medieval mystery play about the first Christmas night. Tickets: $40 to $48. December 12 to 30, almost continuously.
>> Qualifying as the most modern holiday concert (not at all recommended for the traditionally minded) is the program by the 21st Century Consort, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (8th and G Sts. NW). It combines the Dylan Thomas classic (narration by Martin Goldsmith) with mind-blowing music by Peter Warlock, George Crumb, and Paul Schoenfield. Tickets: $22. December 8, 5 p.m.
>> Also modern but easier on the ears is the all-Benjamin Britten program offered by Cantate Chamber Singers at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (4900 Connecticut Ave. NW). The concert combines Britten’s two Christmas-themed pieces for children, A Boy Was Born and St. Nicholas. December 9, 3 p.m.
