Yes yes, this is the most f(un)renetic* time of year for many of us and you barely have time for a breath much less a concert?! Are we nuts? Nope. We think you should make time to come and see us for your own sake. Here’s why:

The “Hey, that’s neat!” Factor

VCS always puts a fresh spin on the holidays and this year is no different. We noticed that our usual “weekend before Christmas” concert date fell on the solstice, and it made perfect sense to sing about the light and dark of the day. After all, isn’t that what so much of the holidays are about? Bright shining stars that show us the way, a reminder of what is important in the dead of winter, the community we all crave when it is dark at 4 pm, and the promise of light as the days get slowly but surely longer in the new year?

 The Music

Well, yes. It’s all about the music at the heart of our concerts no matter why we sing. This is a concert for a cause, and we’ll tell you about that in a minute, but first, the music—Eric Whitacre’s modern American classic, “Lux Aurumque,” a haunting choral arrangement of Sara Bareilles’ “Winter Song,” the classic Appalachian folk song, “Bright Morning Stars,” “All Hail To The Days,” the 17th century English broadside …. We will sing pieces that are, by turns, poignant, ethereal, majestic, joyful, and deeply satisfying.

(And yes, if you think that video of a virtual choir singing Lux Aurumque is amazing, wait until you hear it in the flesh. Goosebumps.)

A Moment Of Pause

Last year, one of the reasons we sang Welcome Yule! was to rediscover and remind ourselves of that pure, traditional sound of the season – as opposed to what our director referred to as the forced, over-bright, Muzak-on-a-loop holiday music. You know, that moment when you realize that endless thud you’re hearing is the downbeat of “Little Drummer Boy,” for the fourth time in as many hours and with all the dread of a forced march….

Yeah, we’re not doing that. If anything, consider Solstice: Light And Dark your moment of refreshing pause. The two hours where you just stop, to appreciate the magical quiet of the season, and to look forward to the shifting of the sun to longer days.

Concert For A Cause

For many of us, this time of year is challenging. It isn’t just the desire some of us have to pull the covers over our heads as we look at a seemingly unending list of things to get done in time for the holidays or the end of the fiscal quarter. Seasonal Affective Disorder may affect a small number of people, but it is very real. And unlike many mental health challenges and disorders, the rest of us can often have at least a small frame of reference for SAD because so many of us struggle with plain old “winter blues.” Marketers sure get this, why else do you think all those TV ads for Aruba and the Bahamas show up, usually at 3 pm, around March when the spring seems so achingly close and yet so very far away?

We get this. It’s why we’ve partnered with The Women’s Center for this concert, and hope you will take away some self-care information, or tips on how to reach out to people in your life who are having a hard time in the darkness of winter, and to help them sing away the dark.

The Hot Chocolate And Cookies Reception

We thought of dispensing with our now traditional post-winter concert hot-chocolate …. for about a hot minute. And then, upon threat of mutiny, decided it was worth all the spills, drips, mess, and such. It’s the VCS winter concert dagnabbit. There shall be hot chocolate! Complete with cute little mini-marshmallows. Oh, and cookies. We always have cookies after our concerts. And this year, we’re fortunate to have them donated by Whole Foods Vienna. Mmm mmm good.

The Fun Factor!

We are blessed to be in an area where the local businesses have a strong sense of community. Our fall concert featured coffees by the much beloved Caffe Amouri. This concert we’re delighted to hold a raffle where you can enter to win prizes to local establishments. We are very grateful to Pure Pasty for donating a $20 gift certificate. And we’re thrilled that Donato’s Pizza has donated $125 gift certificate. We’ll also have gift certificates to iTunes and Amazon, ‘cuz we’re fun like that. Look for the raffle table, put your name in the box, and we’ll do the drawing at the end of intermission.

So there you go.

Really, how are you not gonna come to our concert? Great music, a good cause, yummy treats, prizes, and a two-hour “pause” that’ll leave you happy to go back out into the winter. What’s not to love?

Please come, won’t you? Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors (over 60)/students (15 – 18), and free for youth 14 and under. Volunteers also attend for free. If you’d like to volunteer, please sign up here!

Tickets are available online until Saturday morning. You can also purchase them directly from friends who are singing in the concert, and of course, we always have them at the door.

See you in a few days!

* fun + frenetic, kinda like frenemy. It’s the new W00t. Really. We’re just ahead of the curve.