Lila Music Centre invites you to the 9th Annual Winter Solstice Concert (on Dec 21st and 22nd), where we will celebrate the return of the light! This family oriented musical tradition weaves vocal and acoustic music that ranges from jazz to folk, including premiers of original song compositions created especially for this event. This concert provides warmth and peace in the spirit of beauty, bringing people together with a focus this year on Celtic music traditions. 

This year’s ensemble includes Anne Schaefer (Voice, Guitar, Harp), Quin Etheridge-Pedden from the Unfaithful Servants (Violin), Adrian Dolan from The Bills (Piano, Accordion and Violin),  Scott White from The Bills (Bass), Kim June Johnson (Voice, Guitar) and Cari Burdett (Vocals). We are also pleased to be welcoming the youth voices of Opal and Cassia Hollett.

Songs to look forward to include the acapella Christmas classics: Lo How a Rose, Carol of the Bells, In the Bleak Midwinter and Gloria in Excelsis. Upbeat numbers include a full group rendition of Soul Cake and some joyful fiddle tunes. Other audience favorites that will be sure to please: Calling All Angels and the Lost Word Blessings.

Unique to this concert, musicians will collect holiday wishes from the audience and create one-of-a-kind pieces of music, to honor this very special time of year. “Every year we offer a new array of songs connecting us to the Winter Season and Solstice and 2024 will not disappoint” explains Burdett.

Anne Schaefer will be sharing an original piece called Constellation which she elaborates, “appeared as a song to celebrate our individual beauty and how the sum of our collective parts make spectacular configurations, just as with constellations in the night sky….and how we need a truly dark night to really see the beauty of even the brightest stars”.  

Kim June Johnson’s “I Wish I Had Woken With the Dawn” is about waking up –  to light, but also to life itself, rather than succumbing to the numbness and distraction that the over-culture perpetuates. “It’s a praise song for presence, which in my view, is what the energy of winter solstice is; the dark reminds us of the light we miss and want to treasure more fully when it returns.”