Michael Zwiebach

The Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and Music Director Benjamin Simon give a nod to the holidays this Saturday with Arcangelo Corelli's perennial Christmas Concerto.

The penny-whistle, harp, and bodhran will be in full cry this Friday evening as Old First Church presents Golden Bough, a trio of minstrels who do Christmas Celtic style. You don't need an Irish (or Galician) aunt to enjoy the rare carols and toe-tapping folk tunes this group performs.

The Schola Cantorum San Francisco is one of the Bay Area's finest, professional singing groups. Their Christmas concert for the San Francisco Early Music Society is based on music from Spain's Golden Age and is certain to be one of the choral highlights of the holiday season.

Linda Ronstadt narrates the annual winter concert performance of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

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.

The Tallis Scholars sing in Berkeley this week, courtesy of Cal Performances. At the First Congregational Church, they perform one of Josquin des Prez’ greatest works, the sublime Missa de Beata Vergine (Mass of the Blessed Virgin).

J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio is actually six separate cantatas that were designed to be performed in church on Christmas and the following feast-days (the annunciation to the shepherds, Dec. 26; the adoration of the shepherds, Dec. 27; Jesus' name day and circumcision, Jan. 1; the journey of the Magi (the Sunday after New Year's Day); and the feast of Epiphany).