12 th Night: A Yule Concert & Viking Feast

Inspired by the Yule celebrations of ancient Britain and Scandinavia, our 12th Night Yule Concert and Viking Feast is a magical evening of glorious music and merriment, with a real Boar’s Head Procession and copious toasting in honor of the Norse god, Frey. All that is followed by a sumptuous Yule feast of Scandinavian delights.

This year’s 12th Night rings with exuberant, not-so-traditional music by Howard Helvey, Stephen Paulus, Sheena Phillips, Ysaye Barnwell, and all your 12th Night Orpheus favorites.

We greet the solstice dawn with Robert S. Cohen’s light-filled “Celestial Trilogy,” a celebration of the universe, the birth of the stars, and the life-giving sun.

And then there’s the feast:

Our catered feast is a traditional Scandinavian Julbord, featuring a traditional Yule ham, our chef’s acclaimed Swedish meatballs, all the traditional sides like German potato salad and Black Forest cake, and copious amounts of wine and mead.

Robert S. Cohen is an acclaimed award-winning American composer based in New York City.

Writing in almost every concert genre, his works have been performed in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Kammermusiksaal, Moscow Conservatory, and the Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts.

Celestial Trilogy is an outgrowth of Robert’s curiosity about space and the universe. “Sunburst” vividly portrays the lifegiving power of the sun and its place in the cosmic dance. “The Moon” was inspired by Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” while “The Peaceful Sound of Silent Stars” is about the birth of stars and looking to the beauty of the heavens to find inner peace.

“Barbecue” (or “Pagan Ritual Fire Dance,” Cohen’s preferred title), is an excerpt from “Suburb,” for which he won the 2000 Richard Rodgers Award as Best Off-Broadway musical.

Modeled after the style of medieval French composer Guillaume Machaut, it even has a “recipe fugue” in the middle to celebrate America’s obsession with all things barbecue!