One of the sublime traditions of Santa Barbara’s Christmas music calendar comes with the sound of many voices singing, sans instruments and in a magical setting. We are talking, of course, about the Quire of Voyces, the a cappella group led by founder Nathan Kreitzer, presenting the annual understated splendor of its Mysteries of Christmas program.
That tradition, stymied by the pandemic, springs back to life December 17-18. The space matters: Kreitzer and company have enjoyed an angelic pact with the reverberant, old-worldly ambience of Christ the King, Chapel, tucked behind the former St Anthony’s Seminary (now the Garden Academy). Once nestled into the sanctuary, listeners expect the group’s tightly knit and sensitive choral weave, on musical turf ranging from the Renaissance to the newly minted.
Kreitzer recently expanded on the subject of his 25-plus-year-old project, coming in from the cold this year.