Home for the Holidays invites audiences on a musical journey from the quiet stillness of winter to the warmth of home, community, and celebration. Beginning amid the mystery and darkness of the season with Ēriks Ešenvald Northern Lights and Mack Wilberg’s In the Bleak Midwinter, the program explores themes of searching, welcome, and belonging through works such as Dan Forrest’s The Work of Christmas and Abbie Betinis’ Carol of the Stranger. Along the way, beloved audience carols and seasonal favourites are woven together with the rich diversity of holiday traditions, from Sarah Quartel's reimagining of the Huron Carol, Iesous ahatonnia, to the joyful Sephardic Hanukkah song Ocho Kandelikas. As the music unfolds, the radiant beauty of works by Gabriel Fauré, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Morten Lauridsen, Craig Hella Johnson, and Jamey Ray lead us from darkness into light, culminating in a joyful celebration of hope, peace, and renewal. Whether home is a place, a memory, a tradition, or the people we cherish, Home for the Holidays is a heartfelt invitation to gather, sing, and celebrate the enduring power of music to bring us together.