Minnetonka Choral Society (MCS), under the direction of Jere Lantz, is pleased to announce our upcoming holiday concert, “Carols Old, Carols New." When Benjamin Britten composed A Ceremony of Carols while on a dangerous voyage home to England through an Atlantic Ocean infested with Nazi U-boats, he had no idea he was creating a masterpiece. He wore out his collection of centuries-old poems choosing just the right ones and fashioning them into a suite of carols with voices and harp.
Seventy years later, Britten’s countryman Bob Chilcott took eight old carols, wrote new melodies that blended with their traditional tunes, and fashioned On Christmas Night, a perfect complement for Britten’s masterwork. MCS offers these carol bouquets plus a gathering of favorite carols from across the centuries to help your season be as meaningful as it is bright.