The holiday season at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts would not be complete without a performance of Handel’s Messiah by American Back Soloists, under the direction of UC Davis music professor Jeffrey Thomas.

 “American Bach Soloists has created a tradition of excellence and musical beauty that we celebrate at the Mondavi Center with the performances of Handel’s Messiah each holiday season,” said Don Roth, the Mondavi Center's executive director.

Indeed, in 2008-09, the Mondavi Center’s seventh season, American Bach Soloists presents Messiah for the seventh time in Jackson Hall, at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20.

Vocal soloists include soprano Tamara Matthews, countertenor Ian Howell, tenor Aaron Sheehan and baritone Jesse Blumberg.

The San Francisco Chronicle has called American Bach Soloists performances “a model of what the early music movement can offer at its best: a thoughtful, passionate rendition of great music, attuned to both the stylistic characteristics of the past and to the artistic requirements of our own time."

And the San Francisco Classical Voice has declared: "There is nothing routine or settled about their work. Jeffrey Thomas is still pushing the musical Baroque envelope."

Thomas, American Bach Soloists artistic and music director, and choral director in the UC Davis Department of Music, has appeared with the Baltimore, Berkeley, Boston, Detroit, Houston, Rochester, Minnesota, San Francisco and National symphony orchestras; with the Vienna Symphony and the New Japan Philharmonic; with virtually every American baroque orchestra; and in Austria, England, Germany, Italy, Japan and Mexico.

Before devoting all of his time to conducting, Thomas was one of the first recipients of the San Francisco Opera Company’s prestigious Adler Fellowships.

Cited by The Wall Street Journal as “a superstar among oratorio tenors,” Thomas’ extensive discography of vocal music includes dozens of recordings of major works for Decca, EMI, Erato, Koch International Classics, Denon, Harmonia Mundi, Smithsonian, Newport Classics and Arabesque.

An avid exponent of contemporary music, Thomas has conducted the premieres of new operas, including David Conte's Gift of the Magi and Firebird Motel. Thomas has performed lieder recitals at the Smithsonian Institution and other recitals at various universities. He also has appeared with his own vocal chamber music ensemble, L’Aria Viva.

American Bach Soloists, celebrating its 20th season in 2009, has recorded 17 discs on the Koch International Classics, Delos International and American Bach Soloists labels. The recordings include six volumes of Bach cantatas, many performed one on a part.

The ensemble's critically acclaimed disc of Bach's Mass in B Minor has been called a benchmark recording and a "joyous new performance" (The Washington Post).

One of the ensemble’s most recent offerings is a historically significant version of Messiah, recorded live during performances in 2004 at the Mondavi Center and released in 2005 on the Delos International label.

On the Net

American Bach Soloists: www.americanbach.org

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Handel’s Messiah, performed by American Bach Soloists

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20

WHERE: Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

TICKETS: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or www.mondaviarts.org