'Tis the Season for Choirs, Commerce and Curmudgeons

It’s official! The holiday season is here, as jolly elves and cheery reindeer supplant ghosts and witches in the stores. But forget about Halloween being scary. It was the first radio encounter on Nov. 1 with “Happy Holidays†that really sent chills of horror through me. Oh, noooo! They’re back! Those same five songs we’ve heard for years, now playing every hour for the next six weeks.

      Fortunately, there are some compensations for some of the commercial fare that pervades the airwaves at this time of year. All one has to do is drive a few miles and there’s plenty of great live music to choose from.

   Last year a new chamber group, Wind in the Wilderness brought the sweet sounds of woodwinds and strings to the Church of St. John in the Wilderness in Copake Falls, NY, just off Route 22 on Route 344. The season opener takes place Dec. 12 at 3 p.m. with artistic director Sharon Powers on flute, oboist Ellen Katz Willner, and cellist Beth Craig. Works include trios by Corelli and Stamitz, a cello solo by Bach, Peter Schickele’s “Dream Dances†(dancing in the aisles permitted), and a duet by Ginastera. Suggested donation of $10 includes reception.

   The next concert in the series is Feb. 20, with the Oblong Wind Quintet.

   Our favorite folkies, Jay Ungar, Mollie Mason and the Family Band will come to Club Helsinki Hudson on Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. If you’ve heard them on WAMC, you know their blend of traditional and newly-composed folk, blues and raggy tunes is good, honest entertainment for your whole gang. Tickets $18 (over 21 only). Dinner runs from 6-11 p.m. Visit www.helsinkihudson.com to hear clips from other coming attractions like the raw-voiced Bronx-born blues singer with a searing guitar, Popa Chubby (Nov. 26); Another fine guitarist and singer/songwriter is James McMurtry, best-known for “We Can’t Make It Here†(Dec. 2); and superb banjo-picking by Wesley Corbett of the band Joy Kills Sorrow, featuring mandolinist Jacob Jolliff,  Berklee College of Music’s first full-scholarship mandolin student. The band’s music is haunting in the best sense of the word. (Dec. 3).

   As for holiday fare, Vassar College will present its annual Service of Lessons and Carols on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. Nathan Carlisle, tenor, a member of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus will make a return appearance to perform with the Lessons and Carols Choir.  There will be a premiere of the choral work by composer/conductor Thomas Juneau, “The People Who Walked in Darkness,†which was commissioned for the service by the Vassar College choral ensembles.  The Lessons and Carol Choir is under the direction of Christine R. Howlett, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Vassar.