Despite the formal attire the performers wear onstage, the L.A. Master Chorale's Holiday Wonders: Festival of Carols is a rather casual affair. Perhaps this is par for the course in Los Angeles, where on a cold December day temperatures might dip as low as 50. There's certainly a unique culture to Christmas in Los Angeles, and the Master Chorale's performance embodies that.

As the "host" of the program, conductor Grant Gershon leads the audience through a lovely collection of carols with plenty of good-natured chatting along the way. There's a certain ambiance to the performance, akin to sitting around the fireplace with one's loved ones, humming along under one's breath to well-known tunes of yore and being delighted at the discovery of new classics. There is even a sing-along portion to the concert, which is fun, but does beg the question: Why pay to see a professional choir if we're just going to sing over them? It lends quite nicely to the inclusive atmosphere, though.

The festival includes old favorites, like the always-lively "Deck the Hall," and some more obscure pieces, such as "Sweet Was the Song" (which is, in fact, a new composition). The latter features a celeste, an instrument reminiscent of the Nutcracker's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies," as Gershon points out. It's a tad twee, but not too sweet as to be unpalatable.

As a whole, the concert seemed a bit restrained, and verged on lethargic in the second movement of Rutter's "Gloria," but it picked up speed when a battle of the sexes was introduced. The men were hearty on "Brightest and Best," while the women were lovely on the always-beautiful "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella."

The Master Chorale's Festival of Carols is a joyous celebration of the holiday season sure to get anyone (short of Ebeneezer Scrooge) in the Christmas spirit, with enough festivity to even pervade a 65-degree Los Angeles winter day.

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