The Brattleboro Concert Choir opens the New Year with two concerts exploring “The Fall and The Rise: Songs of Redemption,” presenting a redemption story in two parts: Adam’s Lament by Arvo Pärt is “The Fall,” and Dreamweaver by Ola Gjeilo is “The Rise.”

The concerts are scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre, Main Street, Brattleboro. Tickets are $18 general admission in advance or $20 at the door. Youth admission is $10, with children under 13 admitted free. For tickets, visit www.bmcvt.org

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt composed Adam’s Lament in 2009. The piece is a setting of a haunting Church Slavonic text by Russian Eastern Orthodox monk Saint Silouan. It is a stark exploration of the biblical Adam’s grief and pain at being cast out of Eden, and then seeing his son, Abel, murdered by his other son, Cain.  From that “Fall,” the program proceeds to a “Rise” from the afterlife. Contemporary Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s 2017 piece Dreamweaver is an English retelling of a medieval Norwegian epic poem.