Arcady Ensemble is returning to Brantford for its upcoming Christmas with Arcady event at St. Andrew’s United Church on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
The concert will feature some of Arcady’s past and present Emerging Artist soloists, their professional and youth choruses, and string ensemble.
Ronald Beckett, Arcady’s founder and artistic director-composer, said on the night, the audience can expect a mix of both familiar holiday music and classical selections throughout the annual concert.
“The concert is going to be in two halves. The first half is going to be the Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saëns. An oratorio is basically an opera with no stage, scenery, costumes or staging; it’s sort of just alternating arias and choruses,” he said. “…It’s short, only about 35 minutes long and the reason we do it is because I have some youths in this concert, and it’s a good way for them to be part of a large work without having to learn the entire thing, and it’s within the learning reach of a young person. It’s also just a fabulous piece of work that people love and there’s some great moments for soloists too.”
The other half of the event will feature an array of Beckett’s festive arrangements of well known Christmas tunes such as Stille Nacht.
“The second half of the concert is made up of some of my arrangements, things like Joy to the World, In Dulci Jubilo and my funky arrangement of Adeste Fidelesand; things that are fun and that everyone can just walk into and recognize immediately,” he said. “We’ve really got an all star cast in this performance as well as a wonderful bunch of instrumentalists, some of the best chamber players in Ontario, so it should be a real fun experience for all.”
The program will include the premiere of Beckett’s arrangement of the traditional French carol Noël Nouvelet, as well as the premiere of King Witlaf’s Drinking-Horn.
“This setting of the Longfellow poem showcases the ensemble’s highly skilled male voices and strings,” read the event’s press release.
Overall Beckett said he’s looking forward to the evening and getting people in the festive mood.
“I never tire of the music at Christmas, you know? I’ve been doing these concerts since I was nine years old when I was putting them together in the house, and now I do them with a lot of people around,” he said. “I just love Christmas and this is the time of year when people really want to hear us. They want to hear choral music; that tradition is very much still alive in every community, and I guarantee people will leave in a very festive mood.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
