As the days grow shorter and winter settles around us, the world seems to slow. The earth lets go, the nights stretch longer, and in the growing darkness, something remarkable happens: the stars begin to appear. They remind us that even in the darkest moments of the year, there is beauty to be found, light to be noticed, and something worth gathering together to celebrate.

Join the Maple Ridge Chorus for When the Stars Appear, a musical journey through the beauty, mystery, stillness, and joy of the winter season. Through choral music, poetry, and familiar songs of Christmas, the concert follows the changing season from autumn’s letting go into winter’s quiet, beneath star-filled skies and through the longest night, toward the first signs of returning light and the warmth of Christmas.

Music by Elaine Hagenberg, Morten Lauridsen, Ola Gjeilo, Eric Whitacre, Kim André Arnesen, Craig Hella Johnson, and others captures winter in all its contrasts: darkness and radiance, silence and song, reflection and celebration. Moments of breathtaking stillness give way to warmth, humour, and familiar traditions, with opportunities for the audience to add their own voices to the concert.

At the heart of When the Stars Appear is a simple invitation: to notice what can sometimes only be seen when the world grows quiet. As we move together from darkness toward light, we celebrate the stars that shine above us, the people gathered beside us, and the promise of a new day just beyond the horizon.

Come gather with us beneath the winter sky and celebrate the season when the stars appear.