Boston Camerata returns for annual holiday concert

Publication Date

The acclaimed early music ensemble Boston Camerata will return to Memorial Chapel at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21 as part of the Union College Concert Series.

Lauded by The New York Times as “world-class,” the group has been called, “America’s foremost early music ensemble” by the Parisian standard Le Monde. The Camerata will return to the series for the 25th year, to perform a holiday program, "An American Christmas," featuring songs and instrumental works from early America.

A printed program provides texts of the songs allowing the whole family to appreciate and enjoy these early expressions of the nativity.

Named for a popular 16th century term denoting a small group of artists who met to discuss their craft, the Camerata was founded in 1954 for twenty years was associated with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Joel Cohen served as artistic director from 1968 to 2008 and it has been led since by Anne Azéma. The Camerata has been heard on four continents in 19 countries. In the U.S. the ensemble has performed at the Tanglewood Festival; New York’s Lincoln Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the 2011 Boston Early Music Festival. The Camerata collaborated with the Terro Saarinen Company to perform Borrowed Light, a dance production based on original Shaker songs, which was named “Best of the Decade” by the Village Voice in Dec. 2009.

Individual tickets are $25 or $10 for students. Subscription packages offer significant savings. For information, call (518) 388-6080 or visit the Union College Concert Series website.