Enjoy 'Christmas by Candlelight' tonight, Saturday

COEUR d’ALENE — Celebrate Christmas in a musically unusual way with Chorale Coeur d'Alene's "Christmas by Candlelight" concerts tonight and Saturday.

The Chorale will blend a superb children’s chorus, a harp, guitar, strings, a French horn and some unique arrangements — including a popular Mozart tune transformed into a version of “Jingle Bells” — for its annual yuletide concerts.

Trinity Lutheran Church in Coeur d’Alene is hosting both concerts. The first performance will be tonight at 7 and the final concert will be Saturday at 2 p.m.

Chorale artistic director Stan McDaniel said the Crescendo Community Chorus of Spokane, an eminent children’s group founded and led by Sharon Rodkey Smith, will be a centerpiece of the Chorale Christmas concerts.

The young performers will sing a movement of Benjamin Britten’s classic “Ceremony of Carols” and later, three other selections including Leroy Anderson’s always popular “Sleigh Ride.” The “Ceremony of Carols” is considered a landmark of 20th century choral music, McDaniel said. Britten composed most of the work on a perilous sea voyage across the Atlantic in the darkest days of World War II. In the years since, it has become a classic with its music harkening back to 10th-century England and its curious textual blend of old and new English, with some Latin thrown in. Harpist Janna Bisceglia Engell of Chewelah will accompany the singers in the Britten cantata and will be featured as the soloist in the “Interlude” movement of the work.

The second half of “Christmas by Candlelight” will feature the work of noted American composer Joseph Martin — "Tapestry of Light: A Celtic Christmas Celebration.” The selections are made up entirely of carols and adapted folk tunes from the British Isles.

Other highlights of the “Christmas by Candlelight” concert:

- “What Sweeter Music,” accompanied by classical guitarist Larry Almeida.

- Selections by the Chorale women’s group, “Belle Coeur,” including a jaunty and improbable adaptation of “Jingle Bells” for Mozart’s popular tune, “Turkish Rondo.”

- Audience participation with a carol sing-along.

- A finale with the young singers and adults joining in “Christmas Lullaby,” two timeless cradle songs arranged by Mark Hayes.

Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for seniors 65 and older and military and $15 for students. They are available online at www.choralecda.com and at Trinity Lutheran Church, 812 N. Fifth St., Coeur d'Alene; Peace Lutheran Church, 8134 N. Meyer Road, Post Falls; Northwest Music Center, 3700 N. Government Way Coeur d’Alene; or from any Chorale Coeur d’Alene member.