'Tis the season, and the Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra is going biblical to strike a reverent — and relevant — tone.
But lighter fare is also in the offing.
The ensemble will perform its annual holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, at LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th St.
On top of the concert's more festive selections, the orchestra will deliver a performance of Leonard Bernstein's famous "Chichester Psalms," a challenging choral piece that premiered in 1965 and was commissioned by Chichester Cathedral in England.
Oregon State University's Chamber Choir director and music professor, Steven Zielke, will conduct the piece.
For Zielke, "Chichester Psalms" captures, among many other things, the conflict between peace and violence, at least in his interpretation.
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The choral work consists of three movements, each containing psalms from the Hebrew Bible and sung in Hebrew.
Bernstein, a renowned American conductor and composer best known for his score for the Broadway musical "West Side Story," wanted to combine the sacred Christian tradition of choral singing with the ideas in these Jewish texts, Zielke said.
The first movement opens with a joyful and celebratory spirit, with a choral reading from Psalm 100.
"It's not really easy for the performers, but if we can sing it easy, it sounds like we're having fun," Zielke said, calling the first movement one of the most difficult of the whole piece.
The second movement derives its chorus from Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd") and makes use of a male alto soloist who evokes the role of David. The movement opens with a more peaceful, pastoral theme, but turns more threatening with the entrance of the bass and tenor voices.
"You got this fight between this idea of peace and harmony and this idea of violence," Zielke said.
Finally, the third movement comes in with an intense symphony, before concluding with Psalm 133, whose first verse ends with a call to unity.
But besides this musical centerpiece, the concert will include other holiday and winter classics from composers including Mozart, Josef Strauss and Handel, along with a Christmas carol medley that invites the audience to sing along.
The concert will feature multiple conductors, including the orchestra's veteran music director, Marlan Carlson, who'll be making a post-retirement appearance. He'll be conducting pieces such as Strauss' "Radetsky's March," a crowd-pleaser, he said.
For Carlson, the mix of serious and lighter music is central to the concert's programming, giving audiences an opportunity to hear music beyond the familiar holiday jingles.
"That's the philosophy, and that's been with us for a long time," Carlson said.
Fellow conductor and assistant OSU professor of choral music education Sandra Babb will also lead performances.
The choir appearing Dec. 7 will number around 150 members, composed of chamber choirs from OSU and Linn-Benton Community College. They will accompany an orchestra of around 40, Zielke said, with lots of percussion, some brass and harps.
According to Zielke's understanding of "Chichester Psalms," Bernstein's intentions behind the music were informed by the turbulence of the 1960s, particularly pertaining to the then-relatively new nation of Israel.
"He was trying to write this piece of peace," Zielke said.
While Bernstein's piece was selected last spring for the holiday concert, it has since gained an arguably unfortunate relevance amid the current Israel-Hamas war, which was spurred by the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.
But the music's message of unity is one that goes beyond that particular conflict and touches on a seemingly more unsettled world, Zielke said.
"We want people to be moved by the music, and I think (have) a little bit of feeling of hope for the season," he said.
Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra website.