The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts launches its Tour de Force series this weekend with another of the center's holiday-themed events.

Tour de Force, new to the Mondavi Center lineup, will have a different focus each year. The piano comes first—and this weekend's event is definitely a "force" in the piano repertory: Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (roughly translated, “20 gazes or contemplations on the infant Jesus”).

Don Roth, the Mondavi Center’s executive director, described Vingt Regards as “one of the most complex pieces ever written for the piano.”

“Messiaen’s music is not comfort food—it is dense, difficult and deep—but I don’t think you can come away from Taylor’s performance of Vingt Regards unmoved.”

Christopher Taylor is scheduled to perform the work twice: at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 and 2 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Studio Theatre. Question-and-answer sessions are planned after each concert.

Taylor also is scheduled to participate in a free Forum@MC, joining Laurie San Martin, associate professor of music, for a discussion titled “Mastering Messiaen.” The forum is scheduled for 5 p.m. Dec. 8 in the Studio Theatre.

Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, a Spanish dance company based in New York City, is due at the Mondavi Center on Dec. 14 to present a rare look at holiday fiestas, flamenco style. The performance, titled Navidad Flamenca, is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Jackson Hall.

The American Bach Soloists, led by UC Davis music professor Jeffrey Thomas, are set to perform Handel’s Messiah in Jackson Hall the weekend before Christmas. The concert is set for Dec. 20, starting at 7:30 p.m.

The Mondavi Center is hosting Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana and the American Bach Soloists as part of the center’s 2008-09 presenting season, while the center’s Jackson Hall is being rented for two other holiday shows:

• Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra: Home for the Holidays, with candlelit processions, audience singalongs, new and familiar holiday tunes, and good cheer. 2 and 8 p.m. Dec. 13.

• Chanticleer: A Chanticleer Christmas, a blend of Medieval and Renaissance sacred works, traditional carols and moving spirituals. 5 p.m. Dec. 21.

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