Five must-see concerts this week

Here are our picks of five concerts you shouldn’t miss this week:

True Concord “Christmas Lessons & Carols”

• Featuring: Choir, soloists, organ, harp and oboe.
• When and where: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, at Episcopal Church of the Apostles, 12111 N. La Cholla Blvd. in Oro Valley; 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, at St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church, 600 S. La Cañada Drive in Green Valley; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave.; and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 3738 N. Old Sabino Canyon Road, on Tucson’s east side.
• Tickets: $25 to $40 through trueconcord.org
• What to expect: Call this True Concord’s Christmas gift to Tucson, warmed up in candlelight and lit by some of the season’s most sacred and gorgeous works. And this year, the Grammy-nominated ensemble is throwing in a pair of world premieres of local composer Sheldon Curry — “Magnificat” and “Nunc dimittis” — in a program that includes Benjamin Britten’s “Hodie Christus natus est” (from “Ceremony of Carols”). Also on the program: “Ave Maria” by Javier Busto; Paul Mealor’s “A Spotless Rose”; Gerald Near’s “On Christmas Night”; Brent Pierce’s “How Still He Rests”; Stephen Paulus’ “Hallelu!”; Britten’s “Hymn to the Virgin” and Rutter’s “Mary’s Lullaby.” Audience participation is a must at these celebrations. Audience members are given a copy of the texts so they can sing along.

Tucson Junior Strings Winter Concert

• Featuring: The group’s three chamber orchestras under the baton of founder/director Dennis Bourret.

When and where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Christ Church United Methodist, 655 N Craycroft Road.; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at Rincon/University High School Auditorium, 421 N. Arcadia Ave., near East Fifth Street and North Swan Road.

What to expect: These young musicians have been working since the fall and this weekend is their chance to shine. They will perform works of Dvorák, Mozart, Turina, Boccherini, Hohfeldt, Parry, Vivaldi, Daniels and Professor Teddy Bor .

Southern Arizona Women’s Chorus

Featuring: The full choir, 55 voices strong, small chamber orchestra under the baton of Executive and Artistic Director Terrie Ashbaugh.

When and where: 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1220 W. Magee Road.

Tickets: $18 in advance (or two for $35) at southernarizonawomenschorus.org, or $20 at the door.

What to expect: Fresh from a historic trip last summer to Normandy, France, to participate in the D-Day commemoration — the only American choir invited to perform — the choir will perform a program that includes works sung in Latin (Ola Gjeilo’s “Ubi Caritas”), Hebrew (“Ma-oz Tsur,” Rock of Ages; and Michael Isaacson’s “Enosh”) and French (Gabriel Faure’s “Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant”). But the highlight of the concert will be Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” sung as the composer had initially intended by an all-female choir.

“Most people hear it as a mixed chorus,” Ashbaugh said. “We’re doing it in its original context.”

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The concert includes audience sing-along to favorite Christmas carols and a Southwestern, Tucson twist on the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Tucson Girls Chorus “Sounds of Winter Concert”

Featuring: The Ladybugs, Hummingbirds, Mariposa Singers, Jubilate, Advanced and Engagement Choirs under the baton of Director Marcela Molina.

When and where: 3:30 p.m. Dec. 18, at Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.

Tickets: $15 to $18 for adults, $8 for kids 3 to 10 years old through tucsongirlschorus.org

What to expect: The girls perform classic holiday fare on the historic downtown theater’s big stage. Leading up to the big winter event, the girls have the following concerts this week:

• Old West Holiday Celebration featuring the Jubilate choir at Old Tucson Studios, 201 S. Kinney Road, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. Free with park admission.
• “Greatest Hanukkah on Earth” with the Advanced Choir at Temple Emanu-el, 225 N. Country Club Road, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11. Free.
• Mariposa Singers and Jubilate Choir perform at Luminaria Nights at Tucson Botanical Gardens, at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11. Free with gardens admission.

Juilliard Quartet

Presented by: Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.

When and where: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14, at Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave.

Tickets: $30 adults, $10 students at arizonachambermusic.org

What to expect: One of Arizona Friends’ violinist besties Joseph Lin, once a regular on the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival roster, returns with this venerable American chamber quartet to perform the world premiere of one the Friends’ latest commissions: Mario Davidovsky’s String Quartet. The program also includes Beethoven’s Quartet No. 11 in F minor and Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A minor.

The Juilliard this year marked the 42nd and final season of cellist Joel Krosnick. His successor, Astrid Schween, will make her Tucson debut with the quartet on Wednesday.