Chestnuts Not Only for Open Fires

See my annual roundup of holiday concerts, both good and bad, published at DCist today:

Get Your Yuletide Cheer: Holiday Concerts, November 30

Christmas cheer is inevitable this time of year, but when it comes to holiday music, the range of choices can be daunting. Each year, we pick out what we think will be the most interesting concerts, the ones that will (hopefully) not make you roll your eyes. If you want something more traditional — your carol medleys, your Messiah, your Nutcracker — it's all after the jump.

NOT THE SAME OLD CHRISTMAS:
>> Members of the Washington Bach Consort will present one of Bach's cantatas for Christmas Day, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, for its Noontime Cantata series at Church of the Epiphany (December 1, 12:10 p.m.). It's free!

>> Celebrate the end of the Haydn Anniversary Year with the concert for St. Nicholas's Day by Chantry and Modern Musick at St. Mary, Mother of God (December 5, 8 p.m.). Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai is combined with medieval and Renaissance works devoted to St. Nicholas.