Birmingham Bach Choir celebrate Christmas with two festive concerts and a special appearance.
Carols By Candlelight (Saturday 14 December 2013, St Francis’ Church, Bournville, Birmingham) sees the choir joined by St Francis’ Children’s Choir to sing a range of well loved and little known carols.
Expect to hear Once In Royal David’s City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night and Hark The Herald Angels Sing as well as a lesser known arrangement of In The Bleak Midwinter, Harold Darke’s musical setting of Pre-Raphaelite poet Christina Rossetti’s verse, and Blessed Be That Maid Marie by contemporary Welsh composer Gareth Treseder
The reader is the poet Euan Tait, who has collaborated with conductor/ composer Paul Spicer for Unfinished Remembering, a new choral symphony which will be premiered at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall in September 2014 as part of a UK-wide programme of events marking the centenary of the outbreak of The Great War 1914.
Carols By Candlelight tickets are £12 (concessions £10). Family tickets (2x adults and up to 3 children) £25. All proceeds go to St Marys Hospice Fund.
This is followed by Nine Lessons And Carols (Sunday 22 December 2013, 4pm), a free/ donations performance at St Paul’s Church in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
A Birmingham Bach Choir spokesperson said: “This is a very traditional and beautiful service in a historic church. It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Christmas and hear both traditional and little known carols including Britten’s beautiful Hymn To The Virgin, Sweelinck’s Hodie Christus Natus Est, Resonet in Laudibus by Jacob Handl and Herbert Howells’ Magnificat.
“There’ll be plenty of opportunities for the audience to exercise their own vocal prowess too, if they wish to join in.”
In addition to these concerts, members of the choir will also be performing a few festive favourites in The Atrium of the New Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham on Thursday 19 December 2013 (6.30pm-8pm) in aid of injured service personnel and their families. All welcome, with singing and donations encouraged.
For more information on these and future Birmingham Bach Choir performances, see: www.birmingham.bachchoir.com
LISTINGS
Saturday 14 December 2013
Carols By Candlelight
Birmingham Bach Choir’s regular concert of seasonal music and readings in support of St Mary’s Hospice, Selly Oak. With poet Euan Tait and St Francis’ Church Children’s Choir.
Paul Spicer conductor
Paul Carr organist
Euan Tait reader
St Francis’ Church, Linden Rd, Bournville, Birmingham B30 2AA
6.30pm
£12 (concessions £10); Family ticket £25 (2x adults and up to 3 children) from St Mary’s Hospice. Tel: 0121 472 1191.
www.birmingham.bachchoir.com
Thursday 19 December 2013
Christmas Carols
Carols and festive favourites in aid of injured service personnel and their families. Featuring members of Birmingham Bach Choir.
The Atrium, New Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Mindelsohn Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2WB
6.30pm-8pm
Free/ donations
www.birmingham.bachchoir.com
Note: This is not a full concert performance by the choir.
Sunday 22 December 2013
Nine Lessons and Carols
Birmingham Bach Choir’s traditional service in one of the city’s loveliest buildings.
Paul Spicer conductor
Paul Carr organist
St Paul’s Church, St Paul’s Square, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B3 1QZ
4pm
Free/ donations
www.birmingham.bachchoir.com
- For more information, interview requests, images and review tickets, contact us.
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