The Christmas season is one replete with great Baroque music: think Handel's Messiah, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and more!
While a lot of Baroque-era music comes from Europe, there are countless relatively unheralded works from other parts of the world. Here, we hear a few selections from 17th-century Mexico performed by the Newberry Consort and EnsAmble Ad-Hoc, who alternate between more ecclesiastic music of the chapel and layperson villancicos, Spanish carols of the town square.
The selections come from the ensembles' annual shared concert: A Mexican Christmas; WFMT was invited to sit in on a dress rehearsal for the performance at Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Chicago's Buena Park neighborhood.