If you count from Dec. 25, the Twelfth Night (marking Epiphany and concluding the 12 days of Christmas) is Jan. 5, but James Meredith's Sonos Handbell Ensemble will get ahead of the calendar with a free Twelth Night concert on Jan. 4 in the Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church.
Just back from an acclaimed eight-day, seven-state tour, Sonos will present a lengthy, varied program, ranging from the well-known ("God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," plainsongs and carols) to a group of "exotic" French Noëls, set by Dutch composer Willem Pijper, such as "Entre le boeuf et l'âne gris" (Between Ass and Oxen Mild), "Noël des bourgeois de Châtre" (Noël of the Citizens of Châtre).
Soloists include flutist Diane Tiller, clarinetist Jason Tiller, and soprano Marisol De Anda, 17, winner of both the Pacific Musical Society and Performing Arts Society 2013 competitions. She recently made her orchestral debut singing Sophie in the Rosenkavalier Trio with Frederica von Stade and Melody Moore at the season opening gala of the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, under the baton of music director Dawn Harms.
De Anda, who will sing the French carols and John Jacob Niles' "I Wonder As I Wander," is also a member of the Young Musicians Choral Orchestra.
Sonos has a collective experience of over 150 years of handbell ringing, and has been featured at the 1993 World Ice Skating Championships and the United Nations 50th anniversary celebrations. Among their radio and TV shows have been two appearances with Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio.
Last week's Sonos tour featured von Stade in Texas and Southern California. Meredith says of the complicated logistic:
Touring is getting so much more complicated these days. We can only fly Southwest because we still get two luggage slots with them. (I hear rumors that they may be charging for baggage soon.) We carry all of our bells with us and that's a lot of cases. In addition we travel overland in one cargo truck and a 15-passenger van.Now none of the rental companies will let you have a 15-passenger van for a one-way rental out of state. This is a new policy since our last tour. So we have to rent two minivans, costing more money, of course. We will see how much longer we can afford to tour in the U.S. We do better out of the country!