Festive Concert for Choir, Organ, and Bells

Chamber Choir Ensemble Continuo with Christopher Pluntke (conductor, organ) performs a festive program to celebrate the season. The concert is featuring Annie Gao, one of the rising stars in the world of carillon.

Works include:

Palestrina Motet Viri Galilaei

Bach Sinfonia from BWV 29 arranged for carillon and organ

Gjeilo O Magnum Mysterium

Whitacre When David Heard

Rachmaninoff Bogoroditse Devo

Ensemble Continuo is a classical chamber choir based in Palo Alto, California, founded in 2023. In 2025 Ensemble Continuo was called as Choir in Residence at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.

Performances of the Requiems by Brahms and Duruflé as well as motet programs have brought the choir to the Summer Sacred Music Series at Stanford Memorial Church, the International Performing Arts of America Festival at California Theater in San Jose, and the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland. In June 2025, the choir embarked on its first tour to perform works by Poulenc and Bernstein at Chicago's Holy Name Cathedral.

The choir can be found at ensemble-continuo.com

Annie Gao first met the carillon in 2017 as a member of the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs, completed her Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) Carillonneur exam in 2020, and graduated from Yale in 2021 with a combined B.S./M.S. in Computer Science. She then had the tremendous privilege of continuing her carillon studies internationally with Geert D’hollander, Boudewijn Zwart, and Eddy Mariën, and along the way, was selected for the quinquennial Kors Monster Festival Performance Nomination (2024), as well as The Diapason’s “20 Under 30” list (2025). She has taught carillon performance masterclasses all over the United States, and currently serves the GCNA as chair of the Emerging Artists Grant committee and jury member of the Carillonneur Exam

Founder and musical director of Ensemble Continuo, Christopher Pluntke, graduated from the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg in 2007 and has 25 years of experience leading vocal ensembles, period instrument groups, and performing as organist, pianist and continuo player. After obtaining his PhD at UCL, he moved to the Bay Area, where he has been active as conductor, pianist, and organist. He has served as music director and organist at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Palo Alto since January 2025.

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