Voci Women's Vocal Ensemble hop on the holiday bandwagon with their ninth annual Voices in Peace concert. The small choir goes for broke with an ambitious program ranging from Gregorian chant to Francis Poulenc's Litanies to the Black Virgin. Dedicated to performing music by and for women, the group is featuring Emma Lou Diemer's Hail, O Greenest Branch among their offerings.
Diemer, a Kansas City native, joined the UC Santa Barbara faculty in 1971. Hail, O Greenest Branch (O viridissima virgo, ave) sets a text by Hildegard von Bingen, the famous 12th-century abbess and mystic. The lyrics are about the Virgin Mary, and feature the kind of non-comic wordplay beloved by Medieval poets (virga: branch, twig; virgo: virgin). You've got to love choruses that think outside the box at Christmas time.