The Sixteen at Christmas

The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers, return to SJE with their 2019 Christmas programme.

Programme

William Walton: Make we joy now in this fest

Mediaeval carols:
Nowell, nowell: Out of your sleep
Sweet was the song
Nowell, nowell: In Bethlem

Traditional: Joys seven

Matthew Martin: Adam lay y-bounden
Elizabeth Poston: Jesus Christ the apple tree
Peter Warlock: Corpus Christi carol

Gustav Holst: This have I done for my true love

Mediaeval carols:
There is no rose
Angelus ad virginem
Make we joy

Interval

Praetorius/arr. Sandstrom: Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
James Burton: Balulalow
Cecilia Mcdowall: Of a Rose

Anon: The Salutation carol

Benjamin Britten: A Ceremony of Carols (harpist: Frances Kelly)

This year’s programme includes Britten’s hugely popular A Ceremony of Carols – a masterful and idiomatic work that continues to be a staple of the choral canon and is an example of Britten’s genius. The remainder of the programme combines the traditional medieval carol tunes upon which so much Christmas music has been based, contrasted with more modern delights including Warlock’s Corpus Christi and Walton’s festive Make we joy now in this fest.

Pre-concert dinner and parking were on offer for this event but both are now sold out.