Full TCS Concert – Misa Criolla/Navidad Nuestra

Back in December 2018, the Toronto Choral Society (TCS) performed a sold-out concert at Koerner Hall with the Cassava Latin Band featuring Ernesto Cárdenas, Tenor Soloist, of two of the best-known works of popular Argentine composer Ariel Ramírez – Misa Criolla and Navidad Nuestra.

Misa Criolla is widely considered a stunning artistic achievement that combines Spanish text with indigenous instruments and rhythms. Ramírez once told The Jerusalem Post how Misa Criolla was inspired by a visit to Germany after World War II. While there, he encountered five sisters who had regularly risked their lives bringing food to prisoners of the Nazis in their neighbourhood, which led him to consider writing "a spiritual piece". This would eventually become the Misa Criolla.

Ramírez’s Navidad Nuestra for choir and Andean instruments is a “folk drama of the Nativity” based on Hispanic-American traditions – a perfect accompaniment to Misa Criolla.