Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time” (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness” (The New York Times), The Dessoff Choirs ushers in the winter solstice with a reprise performance of Margaret Bonds’s The Ballad of the Brown King, coinciding with the release of Dessoff’s world-premiere recording of this overlooked work. A holiday cantata focusing on Balthazar of the Three Kings, the entire work was written in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and features text by Langston Hughes. The concert opens with traditional holiday motets and concludes with Silent Night by candlelight and the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah.