Pasatiempo | Mark Tiarks | Link to article

The Desert Chorale has been busy on two digital distribution fronts, with a just-released CD and an upcoming online concert, Home for the Holidays. The latter replaces the chorale’s previously scheduled Nochebuena concerts, which have been postponed until December 2021.

The holiday program is anchored by a New York-based vocal quartet whose repertory includes Tomás Luis de Victoria’s “O Magnum Mysterium,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” Michael Praetorius’ “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming,” Charles Ives’ “A Christmas Carol,” and “The First Noël.”

Other chorale members participate from Santa Fe and around the country, with all 24 singers engaged for Nochebuena coming together ethereally for the “Silent Night” finale.

5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12 to Dec. 25; $5 for students, $20 for an individual viewer, $35 for a household, 505-988-2282, desertchorale.org

The chorale’s 17th CD features Sergei Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil and was recorded during the group’s 2016 season. We think of Rachmaninov as the composer of flashy pieces for piano and orchestra, but he crafted one of the world’s most celebrated pieces of religious music for unaccompanied chorus. (Don’t worry; it lasts an hour, not all night.)

Stream on Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube Music; $20 for the CD; 505-988-2282, desertchorale.org