Music And Mirror

Press play and enter the world of Loreena McKennitt, where walls dissolve into thick, billowing mists as the ground beneath your feet turns to compacted earth and the sky above opens up to reveal a black cloak dotted with shimmering stars draped beneath silk-like clouds. Were McKennitt's composing and songwriting abilities lacking of any luster (as they most certainly are not), her voice would still possess the strength to hold her fifth album, The Mask and Mirror, up on its own. But the combination of this talented woman's vocal prowess and songwriting ability makes her all the more similar to her work – ethereal and almost unbelievable in its level of quality. A mythical menagerie, The Mask and Mirror contains songs that lift the veil to reveal the soul of McKennitt's work in eight dreamlike, Celtic-inspired tracks.

Mediterranean and Nordic Christmas music with Arianna Savall and her Baroque ensemble Hirundo Maris. Since the founding of their ensemble in 2009, Hirundo Maris, the Catalan harpist and singer Arianna Savall, and the Norwegian tenor and violist Petter Udland Johansen have committed themselves to music from the Middle Ages up to the Baroque period. And a special emphasis has been Mediterranean and Nordic music. For their current album, 'Silent Night Early Christmas Music and Carols' both musicians and ensemble conductors have chosen traditional Christmas songs from the north and south. And in doing so, invite you along on a journey of sound into the magical world of centuries-old winter, Advent, and Christmas music.