Birmingham Bach Choir present their first concert of the festive season on Saturday 29 November 2014 at Birmingham Cathedral.
Christmas Fantasia features a varied programme of atmospheric music and song including Morten Lauridsen’s beautiful O Magnum Mysterium, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia On Christmas Carols medley, and Benjamin Britten’s Christ’s Nativity, penned when the composer was still a student at the Royal College of Music.
They’ll be performed alongside Howells’ Three Carol Anthems, Rutter’s sensuous Dormi Jesu, music by Jonathan Dove, Gerald Finzi and Elizabeth Poston, and Fürchtet euch nicht – a rarely heard motet by JS Bach’s father-in-law, Johann Michael Bach.
Sarah Platt, Birmingham Bach Choir Chair, said: “Christmas Fantasia is a lovely mix of familiar seasonal choral works and some less familiar, but no less moving.”
The concert, conducted by Paul Spicer, is the choir’s first since their First World War Centenary commission, Unfinished Remembering, which premiered at Birmingham Symphony Hall in September to great critical and public acclaim.
Consecrated in 1715, Birmingham Cathedral was built by Thomas Archer in the baroque style. Remodelled in the late 19th century, features include several stained glass windows designed by leading Pre-Raphaelite artist/designer Edward Burne-Jones, and made by Morris and Co.
Birmingham Bach Choir’s Christmas Fantasia takes place on Saturday 29 November 2014 at St Philip’s Birmingham Cathedral. Tickets are £8-£15 available from 07891 429062, THSH Box Office 0121 780 3333 or via www.birmingham.bachchoir.com
LISTINGS
Saturday 29 November 2014
Birmingham Bach Choir: Christmas Fantasia
Poston – Jesus Christ The Apple Tree
Lauridsen – O Magnum Mysterium
Dove – Welcome All Wonders In One Sight
Britten – Christ’s Nativity
Rutter – Dormi Jesu
Finzi – Magnificat
Howells – Three Carol Anthems: Here Is A Little Door, Sing Lullaby, A Spotless Rose
Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Christmas Carols
J M Bach – Fürchtet euch nicht
Birmingham Bach Choir
Paul Spicer – Conductor
William Gee – Baritone
Alex Mason – Organist
Birmingham Cathedral, Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QB
7.30pm
Tickets £8-£15 available from 07891 429062, THSH Box Office 0121 780 3333 or via www.birmingham.bachchoir.com
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