Don't get me wrong. I love holiday music. I arrive ridiculously early for sing-along Messiahs so I can sit up front. I once sang "O Holy Night" at a vocal recital. In the summer. But after spending hours listing bell-bedecked holiday concerts for this year's roundup story, I was ready for a change.

No art songs, as far as I know, are about tinsel. So the thought of the Fortnightly Music Club's concert on Dec. 12 is rather refreshing. No carols, no dreidels; just a lovely-sounding selection of works by Jean Francaix, Mozart and Schumann -- and then a program of English, German and French art songs performed by baritone Geoffrey Cooper and pianist Melissa Smith. ...

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