Aeternum choir, led by bailey Cooke, left, rehearse at Mont La salle chapel in Napa. The group is set to return to the chapel later this month for an aeternum Christmas.
SARAH DOWLING
While many people are busy either embracing -- or evading -- Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," a different soundtrack is playing in Bailey Cooke's mind.
For Cooke, artistic director of Napa's Aeternum Choir, pieces like Igor Stravinsky's "Ave Maria" and Mack Wilberg's "Joy to the World" play on repeat as the group prepares for a trio of upcoming Christmas concerts.
Stravinsky and Wilberg are just two of the composers featured in An Aeternum Christmas. Other pieces include Eric Whitacre's "The Chelsea Carol" and James MacMillan's "O Radiant Dawn." There are 12 songs in the program, which will be performed on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Napa's First Presbyterian Church; Friday, Dec. 20 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco; and on Saturday, Dec. 21 at Mont La Salle Chapel in Napa.
Aeternum -- pronounced eh-taernuhm -- is Latin for eternal and "encapsulates the enduring quality of the music we do," Cooke explained.
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A lifelong musician himself, Cooke moved to the Napa Valley in elementary school where he joined a children's choir, according to the Aeternum website. In high school, he participated in the advanced Napa High School choir under the direction of Travis Rogers.
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