Our next concert: Christmas Across Europe

Update: Tickets are now available from Ticketsource: follow this link to book! Price is £10 (+ booking fee). Under-18s can enter for free!

(Some words on our next concert: regular members will have this in the most recent mailshot, but this will also be of interest to potential joiners when rehearsals begin on 11th September.)

Next term’s concert celebrates Christmas through music that has a special place in the traditions of the European countries or regions where it originated. We shall be singing pieces from Finland (one of Sibelius’s very first compositions, En etsi valtaa loistoa), Denmark (Gade’s Bam Jesus - Child Jesus), Catalonia (the traditional carol Les dotze van tocant - the midnight hour has struck) and Ukraine (the ever-popular Carol of the Bells).

Closer to home, the programme will include Three Carols with Medieval Texts by Martin Everett (The Virgin’s Credle Hymn, Quern Pastores Laudavere and Tomorrow shall be my dancing day), Ireland’s The Holy Boy and a lovely version of the familiar hymn See Amid The Winter’s Snow, set as an extended anthem by the prolific composer, conductor and publisher, John Ebeneezer West (1863-1929), who was Chief Editor for Novello & Co for more than 30 years.

The beautiful Latin responsory O Magnum Mysterium recalls the fact that animals were the first creatures to welcome the new-born Jesus. This will be sung in two contrasting settings, by Tomás Luis Victoria and Martin Everett.

The Magnificat in D by Johann Pachelbel (composer of the famous Canon) completes a varied programme of music in a wide range of styles, with something in it for everyone. And you will have the chance to sing in some unusual languages too - Finnish and Catalan are not nearly as hard as you might imagine!