In Katherine Tynan's Christmas poem, verses describing the bitterness and gloom of winter alternate with couplets describing the gentle miracle of Christ's birth. In Sheena Phillips' musical setting, dissonance and disquiet in the verses contrast with the sweeter harmonies and lilting endings of each couplet. This beautiful and poignant piece culminates in a joyful chorus of interlocking exclamations: Noel! Our Lord is born! Duration: ca. 4 minutes 30 seconds.

Arranger: Sheena Philips

Traditionally associated with New Year's Eve festivites, this Scottish air is also appropriate as a farewell at events such as graduation. First written down by Robbie Burns, this setting includes much of the original Gaelic, and is a song that embodies the unbreakable bond of friendship

Arranger: Mark Sirett

Composer: Thomas Cabaniss

From Queen's College, Oxford, comes the ancient ritual and the rousing holiday song The Boar's Head Carol, where the highly decorated dishes of the Christmas feast were presented to the company amid song, pomp and circumstance, with the great platter on which rested the boar's head given pride of place. This arrangement can be adapted and customized to suit various levels of choirs, and lends itself to staging a spirited processional.

Arranger: Stephen Hatfield

This lyrical Christmas anthem is composed in three sections with the opening section built on a melody passed among voices. The middle section is slower and the final section features the basses singing the melody with the upper voices floating above as if they were the angels gathering to witness the birth. Overall, the song speaks to the serene and delicate moments inspired by the original latin text Puer Natus.

Composer: Matthew Emery

Designed especially for the Christmas season, this mass setting is easy to learn and seasonally specific, with each movement based on a well-known Christmas carol.

Arranger: Rupert Lang

This joyful Christmas carol from 15th century France may be sung in either the original French or in English. If a children's choir is used, it can sing the soprano part throughout. The words nouvelet and noel both come from the French root word meaning news or newness and this arrangement by Wayland Rogers is just that, fresh and new.

Arranger: Wayland Rogers

After a statement of the chorale in unison, Hal Hopson has taken the final movement from part 1 of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio Von Himmel Hoch and set it using the words penned by Martin Luther From Heaven Above To Earth I Come. Hopson has transposed this down a step from the original D making it comfortable for the beginning or amateur choir. Duration: ca. 3 minutes

Arranger: Hal H. Hopson | Composer: J.S Bach

Hanukkah is a celebration of triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality. This music captures this sense of joy and celebration in both the words and the music.

Composer: Dean Rishel

A joyous fanfare, heralding the great news of birth in the time of darkness. This piece is full of precise rhythms and should be sung with breathless enthusiasm.

Arranger: Lee Kesselman

Out of a single note, a single moment in time, arises the Great Mystery, revealed in the Christian tradition at Christmas time. After opening with a haunting unison chant, bass ostinato evokes the dry, dustiness of a camel procession in the desert, and an Eastern-sounding melody in the sopranos transports you to another time and place.

Arranger: Lee Kesselman

Based on an Irish blessing, this one-minute work may be performed in a variety of ways: SATB, as a solo, with unison voices, or treble or men's voices in octaves. It will be an excellent choice to close any holiday or winter concert. Duration: ca. 1:00.

Composer: Wayland Rogers

This fifteenth century English carol, originally titled Nowell, Nowell, Dieu vous garde has been recast in modern form although the ancient feel is still present. Vocal parts may be doubled by wind or string instruments and optional percussion may be played by separate players or by members of the choir.

Composer: Drew Collins

Decorated with handbells, flute, tambourine and drum, this Medieval processional is sure to be a distinctive start to a holiday concert. Written around 1200 it lauds the donkey that bore the wise men's gifts from the Orient to Jerusalem.

Arranger: Lee R. Kesselman

Set to an early 20th-century poem, this simple a cappella work offers the joyous message of hope just when all seems dark.

Arranger: Wayland Rogers

Commissioned by the CBC and the choir of the church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal, the composer has set the evocative Christmas text of Eliza Hewitt. The text is both majestic and intimate and the music conveys these contrasting moods perfectly. This will be a wonderful invitation to a Christmas Eve service or other seasonal performance.

Composer: Ruth Watson Henderson

Commissioned by the CBC and the choir of the church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal, the composer has set the evocative Christmas text of Eliza Hewitt. The text is both majestic and intimate and the music conveys these contrasting moods perfectly. This will be a wonderful invitation to a Christmas Eve service or other seasonal performance.

Arranger: Ruth Watson Henderson | Composer: Ruth Watson Henderson

Written for and dedicated to the Toronto Children's Choir, legendary Canadian composer Ruth Watson Henderson has constructed a piece that incorporates all levels of a broad based Community Children's Choral organization. Written for a unison training choir, a 3-part intermediate treble choir and an SATB advanced choir, this is the perfect closer for a combined Christmas Concert.

Composer: Ruth Watson Henderson

This tongue-in-cheek adaptation of Rudolph is written in Latin!

Arranger: Philip Brunelle | Composer: Johnny Marks

A uniquely evocative setting of the Gloria. Elegant and fluid lines suggestive of Gregorian chant are changed into a freely sung soundscape of great beauty and richness. With percussion.

Composer: Mark Sirett

Winner of the 1989 Christmas carol competition held on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, this original a cappella carol can be used for both concerts and caroling. Around a candle they did sing to celebrate the newborn King, and of the joy we hold in store, sang the carolers at my door. Duration: ca. 2:00.

Arranger: Caroline Mallonee

A gentle rocking-song from the Outer Hebrides, traditionally sung at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Rogers' arrangement begins quietly with a solo soprano, and gradually builds to the full choir.

Arranger: Wayland Rogers

A setting of two winter poems for mixed chorus and harp, the work's first movement, Snowflake Song, is a lyrical meditation on a snowflake's downward journey, while the second movement, Wisdom, creates a sense of ancient wonder reverberating into modern times as the text paints a picture of the three wise men following the Star of Bethlehem. Duration: ca. 6:00.

Composer: Carl Schroeder