This concert features works centered on the light of the season, as evidenced in contemporary secular poetry, the Christian tradition, winter solstice, and the principles of Kwanzaa. It features works by living contemporary composers including the esteemed Canadian composer Sarah Quartel, whose work A Winter Day is one of two anchor pieces on the program. Quartel's work paints the Canadian winter in five movements with text by Sara Teasdale, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and Melville Cane. The second half features the Nguzo Saba Suite by African-American composer Glenn Burleigh, in his piano-accompanied work in seven movements on the principles of Kwanzaa, and shorter works by Felix Mendelssohn, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Eric Whitacre, Robert L Morris, and Morten Lauridsen.