Siskiyou Singers’ holiday concert, scheduled for Dec. 8-10, will take listeners through a musical time warp, with a first half featuring ancient works and a second half including special arrangements and settings of holiday favorites.

Performances of “Ancient Melodies” will be presented at the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave., Ashland, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, and at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 9-10. 

General admission is $25 ($5 for students and Oregon Trail Card holders). Tickets are available from choir members, at The Music Coop and Paddington Station shops in Ashland, online at siskiyousingers.org, or at the door.

Music director Mark Reppert, in his 15th year at the helm, is excited about the way the concert is shaping up.

“We look forward to exploring the origins of the music we’ve come to love during this special time of year, along with contemporary arrangements of many seasonal favorites,” he said.

Reppert spent 32 years teaching music in public schools and has been directing for 56 years.

“We have 55 singers who rehearse each Tuesday evening at the United Methodist Church,” he said. “We are lucky to have a world-class accompanist in Mikiko Petrucelli. She will be playing a variety of keyboards, including harpsichord, electronic organ and piano.”

Musicologist Ed Wight will present a free pre-concert lecture about the music one hour before the Dec. 8 and 10 performances.

The program

Two sprightly Spanish villancicos from the 16th century kick off the holiday concert.

“We’ll follow those ancient carols with a contrasting and beautifully pious ‘Ave Maria’ by Josquin des Prez,” Reppert said.

“Videntes Stellam Magi” (“The Wise Men Saw the Star”) by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina comes next.

“It’s a spectacular telling of the story of the wise men,” Reppert said, “and is written for two antiphonal choirs.”

Concluding the first half are contemporary settings of ancient texts, including “O Magnum Mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen, a neo-Renaissance piece by well-known local composer William Ashworth, and a traditional Black spiritual, “See Dat Babe,” in an arrangement by Stacey Gibbs.

“In the second half, we will perform holiday favorites set in exciting ways,” Reppert said.

Among them are “The Holly and the Ivy,” and jazz arrangements of “Let it Snow,” “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” and “Winter Wonderland.”

The program will conclude with a profound setting of “Silent Night” by Ivo Antognini, and, as always for this choir, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” arranged by John Rutter.

Italy tour

Next June, Siskiyou Singers will tour northern Italy and participate in the five-day non-competitive Alta Pusteria International Choral Festival, taking a few days before and after the festival to sightsee and perform some a la carte concerts in northern Italy towns.

The choir will perform in concert halls, churches and village squares, as well as outdoors surrounded by the spectacular scenery of the Dolomites.

Reppert said the tour is a big undertaking.

“It requires a great deal from the choir,” he said. “We will perform short a cappella performances outdoors, longer concerts, and also independent, hour-long concerts before and after the festival in Italian cathedrals.”

During the tour, the choir will perform music by great American composers of great American poets.

“For example,” Reppert said, “we’ll perform a set of four pieces by Alice Parker of Emily Dickinson poems entitled, ‘The Definition of Beauty.'” Also included are Samuel Barber’s work highlighting James Agee poetry, and Randall Thompson’s work incorporating poetry by Robert Frost.

Members look forward to singing for and with other choirs, and comparing notes with choir members from around the world.

“We welcome experienced choral singers to audition for our choir on Jan. 23 or 30, before our first rehearsals for the tour,” Reppert said. Interested singers can set up auditions by contacting Reppert at markreppert@gmail.com.

The choir will sing the tour literature for local audiences at concerts May 4 and 5, also including a few pieces intended specifically for the cathedral concerts.

For more information about the choir, including details about the upcoming Italy tour, see siskiyousingers.org.