KITKA – Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 8 pm

Wintersongs
Shira Cion, Director 

Wintersongs is Kitka’s critically-acclaimed and wildly popular winter holiday program showcasing seasonal music from a wide variety of Eastern European ethnic and spiritual traditions. This year they celebrate the release of their newest CD, Evening Star, sequal to their 2005 Wintersongs album, which features songs ranging from rousing Slavic folk carols; to lush, meditative Eastern Orthodox sacred choral works; to Baltic pagan incantations for the return of the Sun Goddess, to Caucasus Georgian Alilos (hallelujahs); to Yiddish songs for Chanukah. Their program is dedicated to the mystery and wonder of long winter nights, and features songs whose lyrics are poetically rich with celestial imagery of the moon and stars, as well as the wintry elements of frost, snow, and storms. In Slavic mythology the Evening Star was a female deity associated with the planets Venus and Mercury. By some accounts, she was a virgin goddess, while according to others she was the wife of the Moon god and mother of all the stars. Christian lore incorporated the Evening Star into the nativity story as the Star of Bethlehem. Songs heralding the wonder of celestial bodies remind us that we are but a small part of the universe. In this time of uncertainty and disequilibrium, we can find solace and comfort in the simple joy of raising our voices together in harmony.