Sangre de Cristo Chorale warmly invites you to attend their holiday program, Mid-Winter Songs, on December 6 and 7, 2025. Mid-Winter Songs is a choral concert that captures the winter season’s beauty, serenity, and complexity, while celebrating the winter holiday.
For this program, the chorale will present Morten Lauridsen’s 1980 five-movement choral symphony Mid-Winter Songs, inspired by the writing of British poet and novelist Robert Graves.
The concert also includes traditional Christmas favorites such as the Huron Carol, In the Bleak Midwinter, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and other celebratory holiday music.
Expect a performance of musical depth and poetry coalescing into a reflective winter experience and holiday celebration for audiences in Santa Fe.
Get tickets now.
What Are the Mid-Winter Songs: Dates, Times, and Location?
- Dates and Times:
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- Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 4 p.m.
- Sunday, December 7, 2025 at 4 p.m.
- Location: First Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe, 208 Grant Avenue
- Tickets: Adult tickets cost $30; tickets for children under 18 are free.
- Tickets bought online can be downloaded and printed or picked up at the box office will call on the day of the event. Tickets are also available at the door.
Buy tickets now.
For this performance, the Sangre de Cristo Chorale returns to a familiar venue. Long-time attendees will recall past performances at First Presbyterian Church, which offers impeccable acoustics for choral music.
What Is Mid-Winter Songs About?
Lauridsen’s Mid-Winter Songs composition uses Graves’s poetry to examine themes of winter, introspection, and the human condition.
Based on poems by Robert Graves, Lauridsen’s Mid-Winter Songs for choir and piano has a structured, five-movement song cycle using classical forms with modern harmonic language.
The piece uses recurring musical themes that first appear in the opening movement that revive throughout the work.
Lauridsen composed it in a virtuoso style, with challenging vocal intervals, fast passages, and precise rhythmic articulation.
The piece follows a traditional arc: a dramatic opening, a scherzo-like second movement, a slower and more reflective third movement, and concluding sections that explore winter imagery, renewal, and emotional transition.
The five movements share a tightly integrated structure, with the main melodic ideas introduced in the dramatic opening measures and developed throughout the score, creating a journey through the onset of winter and the quiet transformation of the season:
- Lament for Pasiphaë (the queen of Crete in Greek Mythology)
- Like Snow
- She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep
- Mid-Winter Waking
- Intercession in Late October
What Is the Importance of Mid-Winter Songs?
This seasonal performance offers listeners an opportunity to hear one of Lauridsen’s most studied and celebrated choral works.
The concert emphasizes clarity, text expression, and musical craftsmanship, making it valuable for students, musicians, and community members interested in high-quality choral literature.
The pairing of Graves’s poetic language with Lauridsen’s modern choral writing and the vocal talent of the Sangre de Cristo Chorale harmonizes in a distinct winter program unlike any other in New Mexico.
Mid-Winter Songs is a glorious piece composed early in Morten Lauridsen’s career that explores the starkness and beauty of winter,” states Music Director George Case.
“As choral fans know, Lauridsen has made an indelible mark on the American choral scene. His beautiful music is immediately recognizable for its modal qualities indebted to the Renaissance, its distinctive harmonic language, and its singability. In Mid-Winter Songs, we hear these qualities and are also able to experience the abandon and excitement of an early composition, with glimpses of what will become known as Lauridsen’s trademark sound. We’re excited to perform this wonderful piece in its entirety for our audience and also look forward to sharing some of the best-loved holiday music and carols to celebrate this season of community, togetherness, and good cheer.”
FAQs
What is the theme of the Mid-Winter Songs concert?
The theme centers on winter as both a natural and emotional season. Lauridsen’s five-movement work uses Robert Graves’s poetry to examine ideas of reflection, renewal, and the contrasts between darkness and light.
The concert offers listeners a structured exploration of winter through music, supported by program notes and contextual insight. Audience members can expect both lyrical and dramatic sections that capture the range of winter moods in Lauridsen’s piece, plus familiar favorite seasonal music for an overall celebration of the holidays.
Where is the Mid-Winter Songs concert held in Santa Fe?
The concert takes place at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe. The venue is known for its warm acoustics and clear choral resonance, making it well-suited for Lauridsen’s layered harmonies.
First Presbyterian Church is centrally located and offers comfortable seating with good sightlines for a choral performance. This return to a previous venue brings the chorale back to a familiar acoustic environment.
Who composed Mid-Winter Songs?
The work was composed by Morten Lauridsen in 1980. Lauridsen is one of the most widely performed American choral composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
His catalog includes O Magnum Mysterium, Lux Aeterna, and Dirait-on. His writing is known for its clarity, emotional depth, and structurally cohesive melodic development.
How can I get tickets for the concert?
Buy tickets through the Sangre de Cristo Chorale’s website.
Let Mid-Winter Songs Transform You This Winter
The 2025 Sangre de Cristo Chorale’s Mid-Winter Songs concert brings a profound and reflective start to the holiday season.
Join them at the acoustically-distinct First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe on Saturday, December 6, or Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 4 p.m. to experience Morten Lauridsen’s celebrated five-movement choral masterwork, inspired by the poetry of Robert Graves.
This virtuoso performance weaves themes of winter, introspection, and renewal, offering a deeply satisfying choral experience, plus seasonal favorite music.
Buy your tickets online now and prepare to witness the extraordinary harmony of poetic language and modern choral composition in a program unparalleled in New Mexico.
This article was posted by Jess
