Tis the season for the Sage Chapel Christmas Program -- as well as jazz, gamelan

The Sage Chapel Choir will present its annual service of lessons and carols, known as the Sage Chapel Christmas Program, Sunday and Monday, Dec. 3 and 4, at 8 p.m. in Sage Chapel on campus.

Members of the Sage Chapel Choir are rehearsing for the traditional Christmas program, which is offered this year Dec. 3 and 4.

One of the best-loved Cornell events, the program continues the traditions built by Donald R.M. Paterson (director from 1966 to 1993), who modeled the Christmas program after the annual service of lessons and carols at Kings College, Cambridge.

The Sage Chapel Christmas Program alternates Bible readings by Cornell community members with anthems performed by the Sage Chapel Choir and carols sung with audience participation. Celebrated readers for the Sunday performance include President Hunter Rawlings; Susan Murphy, vice president of student and academic services; and Elizabeth Sanders, professor of government and American studies. President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes, Dean of Students John Ford and Kenneth Kennedy, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, join the other readers at the Monday evening program.

Led by conductor Richard Riley with University Organist Annette Richards, the choir's program includes: Benjamin Britten's Hymn of St. Columba; The Holly and the Ivy, an English traditional carol; There Is No Rose (hymn and canon); Charles Ives' A Christmas Carol; Pat Shaw's A Christmas Round; the Sanctus and Benedictus from George Malcolm's Mass at the Crib; "Day by Day, We Magnify Thee" from Handel's Utrecht Te Deum; and the spiritual, Mary Had a Baby.

As always, a large and vocal audience will be necessary to provide muscle on the hymns: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; O Little Town of Bethlehem; O Come All Ye Faithful; Silent Night; and Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

In addition to the Christmas program, the Department of Music is offering several free concerts this week. Among them are:

· On Friday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall, the Cornell Gamelan Ensemble presents a performance of Indonesian music, featuring music for the gamelan of Java, Indonesia. There will be several visiting Indonesian musicians participating in the performance, and, as part of the event, the group will demonstrate advanced techniques of playing gamelan music by numbers, showing the structure and stylistic features of a Javanese gamelan piece.

· On Saturday, Dec. 2, the Cornell Lab Ensembles present a concert at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall. Under the direction of jazz great Donald Byrd, two small ensembles (West and North) will play followed by a big band after intermission. Playing without a leader, the West group presents a set of five selections, including pieces by Wayne Shorter, Matt Dennis, Stan Getz and Duke Jordan. London McDaniels, who teaches guitar and performs locally in Ithaca and upstate New York as well as in Manhattan, directs the North ensemble in five pieces, including three of his original works.

Following intermission, the 8:30 P.M. Big Band, directed by first-year Cornell electrical engineering Ph.D. student Keigo Hirakawa, takes the stage, playing a varied set of six selections, including three tunes by Sammy Nestico and works by Mitch Farber, Neal Hefti and Charles Mingus.

Check the Department of Music calendar listing for the complete schedule of events for the coming week.