MUSIC

Led by Music Director J. Reilly Lewis, the chorus's 24 singers demonstrated fluid technique in several Renaissance works and proclaimed with cheery elation and power in various 20th-century choral pieces. But it was the romantic compositions on the program at which the group excelled.

In Pavel Chesnokov's "Spaseniye Sodelal," based on a Kievan chant, Lewis stretched out phrases like taffy and inspired the consort's men and women to linger on extended endings. With a rich tone, the singers spun out a seamless performance of Brahms's folk-song-infused "Taublein Weiss."

Mendelssohn's "Es Wird Ein Stern" had an operatic quality, as befits the third oratorio meant to bridge the composer's "Elijah" and "St. Paul." The choristers pursued its dramatics as fiercely as they expressed the emotions embedded in Poulenc's "O Magnum Mysterium." For Berlioz's "L'Adieu des Bergers," the chorus sang with hushed warmth, growing successively softer until the sounds simply dissolved.

The consort normally appears with its own period-instrument orchestra, but it opted Sunday for the accompaniment of organist Scott Dettra, who also performed several J.S. Bach works with brilliance. Throughout the concert, the group also featured some of its own in polished solos.

-- Grace Jean

Maggie Sansone

Maggie Sansone has built her Celtic music dynasty in the small Anne Arundel County town of Shady Side, so it was fitting that she would stage the second show of what she jokingly called her "world tour" in nearby Owensville. Christ Episcopal Church, built in 1863, was a picturesque setting for the first of two Celtic Christmas concerts on Sunday.

In opening remarks, the Rev. Saundra L. Cordingley, the church's rector, described the music as both spiritual and earthy. It was this latter quality that gave the show its special charm. Laura Byrne on Irish flute and pennywhistle, Rosie Shipley on fiddle and Lisa Moscatiello on vocals and guitar played with boldness and joy. Byrne's flute boasted that uniquely Irish combination of legato and lilt. Shipley brought a barn-dance bravado to the Appalachian tune "Frosty Morning." And Moscatiello sang the beautiful, strange "Cherry Tree Carol," which she described as "a very human story": Mary beset by food cravings, Joseph sulking about the baby's paternity, and Jesus ending the quarrel with a miracle from inside the womb.

As for Sansone, her primary instrument is the hammered dulcimer, a contraption in grave danger, in the wrong hands, of sounding like a music box. Sansone wielded her hammers gracefully and inventively, filling "What Child Is This?" with lush embellishments and leading "Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella" at double the usual tempo.

"Christ Church Bells," a perfect choice for both venue and instrument, was chased by a song not found in the hymnbooks in the pews: a Scottish tune called "Bottom of the Punch Bowl."

A similar program will be presented at the Birchmere on Dec. 18.