An interview with Matthew Compton.

Interviewer: So, tell me Matt, how did you pick this (2025) December's concert theme?

Matt: With this concert cycle, I was trying to do something other than a normal Christmas holiday concert and I wanted to use more of a story-driven theme. So the full concert is telling a story about a little girl who gets lost in winter and eventually finds a village, a new home, and gets reunited with her family and has moments of self discovery about herself. So I wanted to use music as the conduit to tell the story as opposed to just picking very specific holiday pieces.

Interviewer: So how does one of these pieces relate to the story?

Matt: Yeah, so we have a stunning arrangement of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" by Arnold Sherman that we are using as sort of a, it sounds bitter and cold. So the little girl has lost her family and has been separated from them. Then we have this fiery arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" ("Bell Carol Fantasy" by Arnold Sherman) that is meant to be evocative of a blizzard. So she is stuck in this blizzard. So each piece has a part of the story.

Interviewer: So it's hard to ask this about children, but is one of the pieces one you really enjoy, your favorite?

Matt: I really actually like "Lapse kiigutamise laul" ("A Baby Rocking Song") by Tomu Korvits. I'm really liking that one. It just sounds cool. And I also really love "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime" by Sandra Eithun.

Interviewer: And how did you come up with this story based theme?

Matt: Like I said, just wanting to try something different.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time.