Philharmonia Baroque Reinvents Holiday Tradition with an Innovative San Francisco Concert

The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra performs at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.

Scott Chernis

December is not a month when you expect to be surprised in a concert hall. In the classical music world — and especially with a period instrument band — it’s a time for traditional fare.

But Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra deviates from the norm.

“Gloria”: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7. Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University, 327 Lasuen St, Stanford. $20-$125. 415-295-2111. https://philharmonia.org

Its Friday, Dec. 5 concert at the Herbst Theatre was anchored by Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” conducted by Philharmonia Chorale Director Valérie Saint-Agathe, but two new choral works are also on the program. In the end, Caroline Shaw’s “The Holdfast” proved to be its riveting center, drawing fulsome applause from the sold-out San Francisco crowd — and the composer herself, who was in attendance.

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Shaw loves to bring contrasting texts into her choral works. Ostensibly, “The Holdfast” (co-commissioned with Glasgow’s Dunedin Consort and Wigmore Hall) is a setting of Thomas Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush,” a poem about the promise of renewal hidden away in the deep of winter. In the midst of life, we are in death.

Shaw’s own texts reinforce the end message of Hardy’s poem about renewal. Her third movement, “The Resilience of Lichens in Winter,” lists lichens, which is where the title of her work comes from.

Composer Caroline Shaw takes a bow following the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorale’s performance of her piece, “The Holdfast.”

Scott Chernis

A holdfast is the rootlike structure that attaches lichens to a support. Metaphorically, that’s how we endure winter. More commonly, it’s what we do when our core beliefs are threatened. In the midst of death, life persists, as Mahatma Gandhi said.

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Shaw’s setting of Hardy’s poem involves no tricks. It’s melodic and doesn’t play with the rhythm of Hardy’s iambic lines. Rounds (where one singer begins and another follows with the same tune) are associated with children’s songs and games, and here they function to break Hardy’s rhythm and allow the music to expand, while the brief third movement brings in modern musical techniques of overlapping voices.

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Throughout, Shaw’s painterly sense of color evokes Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” “The Holdfast” begins with an icy pairing of plucked strings by the theorbo (a bass lute, played by Adam Cockerham) and the harpsichord (played by Corey Jamason). The string orchestra is brilliantly used, and some effects — like the ghostly violin harmonics in the third movement — sound weirdly new when played on period instruments. Overall, it’s a beautiful, deeply layered work from a highly personal and deft artist.

Roderick Williams’s “Quem Pastores Laudavere” (When the shepherds praised), commissioned for the Philharmonia Chorale, received its world premiere on Friday. As a setting of the famed Christmas tune by 16th- and 17th-century German composer Michael Praetorius, Williams’s work is effective in a wholly different way.

Williams, now an acclaimed opera singer, soaked in the English choral tradition that infuses this piece as a boy chorister. Written in 12 parts for the Chorale’s 24 singers, the work is a deconstruction of the tune that ends in a reconstructed harmonization. Cool things happen along the way, like when the basses evoke 16th- and 17th-century Anglican anthems by singing a cantus firmus in long notes, with the upper voices in imitative polyphony. The harmony is clustered and de-centered until the basses sound the fundamental keynote of the tune. This is followed by a harmonization that the composer calls “soupy and schmaltzy,” but I was happy to go along with it.

Led by Valérie Saint-Agathe, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Philharmonia Chorale perform a new choral work.

Scott Chernis

The traditional part of the concert included Arcangelo Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto,” (Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op. 6, No. 8) where the orchestra’s warm but incisive string tone was on full display. The pastoral final movement with its shepherd-like drones, from which the work derives its nickname, was a primer on what a cohesive string section should sound like.

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Vivaldi’s “Gloria” raised the temperature, as it’s designed to. The composer’s rhythmic vitality and invention can’t be tamped down, even in a liturgical work like this one.

The Chorale sang it brilliantly, with soloists drawn from its ranks. Longtime orchestra oboist Gonzalo X. Ruiz was gorgeous in the “Domine Deus, Rex coelestis” movement, accompanying Julia Grizzell’s graceful soprano, and countertenor Kyle Sanchez Tingzon was brilliant in the “Domine Deus, Agnus Dei.”

The final fugue left the audience delirious with excitement.

In the foyer, prior to the concert, singers from the San Francisco Girls Chorus sang traditional carols. It almost need not be said: they were brilliant and professional as always.

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Michael Zwiebach is a freelance writer. This article has been provided in partnership with San Francisco Classical Voice.

Here are PAA (People also Ask) related questions,each on a new line,based on the provided text. These are phrased as questions someone might type into a search engine:

🎶 Holiday Programming Meets Baroque Innovation

Keywords: Philharmonia Baroque,San Francisco holiday concert,baroque music festival,immersive concert experience,holiday season programming,live classical music,innovative concert design,2025 holiday tradition,cultural events SF,music director Christian Geden

• Date & Venue: December 13 2025,Grace Cathedral,San Francisco
• Series: “Season of light” – a re‑imagined installment of the orchestra’s long‑standing holiday series
• Music Director: Christian Geden (first full season leading the programming)

H2: core Elements of the Innovative Concert

H3: 1. Immersive Light & Sound Design

• Dynamic LED architecture wraps the cathedral’s interior,synchronizing with musical cues.
• Surround‑sound speaker arrays deliver spatial audio, allowing audiences to “hear” the string section from multiple directions.

H3: 2. Multi‑Genre Collaboration

• Alex Reed chef collaborations: The concert includes a pre‑show “Baroque bites” tasting menu curated by San Francisco’s award‑winning chef Dominique Crenn, pairing each dish with a specific movement.
• Contemporary visual artists project period‑accurate engravings onto the nave walls, creating a dialog between 17th‑century aesthetics and modern digital art.

H3: 3. Expanded Repertoire

Composer	Piece	Historical Context	Holiday Connection
Heinrich Schütz	Weihnachtsmotive	Early German baroque	First‑ever live performance in SF
Antonio Vivaldi	Gloria (RV 588)	Venetian sacred music	Used as a finale to echo “joy” themes
Johann Sebastian Bach	Cantata BWV 95 “Christ lag in Todesbanden”	Lutheran tradition	Integrated with English carol “Silent Night” arrangement

H3: 4. Audience Interaction Features

• QR‑code program notes give real‑time translations, historical insights, and rehearsal videos.
• Post‑concert Q&A with music director Christian Geden and principal violinist Lila Hsu, streamed live on the orchestra’s YouTube channel.

H2: Benefits of the New Holiday Format

• Increased Accessibility: Multi‑language QR‑code guides boost comprehension for non‑English speakers (Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic).
• Higher Engagement: Interactive tasting and visual art components extend average dwell time by 27 % (archival data from 2024 “Season of Light” series).
• Economic Impact: Ticket sales (≈ 2,800 seats) projected to generate $1.2 million in local revenue, supporting san Francisco’s cultural tourism goals for 2025‑26.

H2: Practical Tips for Attendees

1. Reserve Early: Limited “Baroque Bites” seats release on November 15; tickets sell out within 48 hours.
2. Arrive 20 minutes early to experience the pre‑concert tasting and to scan QR‑code program guides.
3. Dress Code: Smart‑casual is encouraged; a festive accessory (e.g., a holiday boutonnière) adds to the immersive experience.
4. Transportation: Use BART to Montgomery St. Station; a dedicated shuttle runs from the station to Grace cathedral every 15 minutes.

H2: Real‑World Example – Audience Response from 2024 Pilot

• Survey Result: 93 % of attendees rated the “light and sound sync” as “exceptionally immersive.”
• Social Media Metric: #PBOHoliday2024 trended locally on X (twitter) with 4,200 mentions during the concert night.
• Press Highlight: San francisco Chronicle praised the “seamless marriage of baroque authenticity and 21st‑century technology.”

H2: How This Reinvention Aligns with Broader Trends

• Cultural Institutions: Museums and orchestras worldwide are adopting hybrid experiences (e.g.,Met’s “Live in HD” series).
• Audience Demographics: Millennials and Gen Z show a 42 % higher preference for events with multimedia components (NEA 2023 report).
• Sustainability: LED lighting reduces energy consumption by 35 % compared with customary spotlights, supporting the orchestra’s green initiative.

H2: Future Outlook – What’s Next for Philharmonia Baroque?

• 2026 Expansion: Planned touring of the “Season of Light” concept to venues in Los Angeles and Seattle.
• Digital Archive: All concert recordings will be uploaded to the PBO Open Access Library, searchable by piece, composer, and thematic tags.
• Community Partnerships: Ongoing collaborations with Bay Area schools for “Baroque After‑School” workshops, tying holiday repertoire to music education curricula.