C o n c e r t s
Hodie Christus natus est!
Christmas in Rome
Saturday 11 December 2021, 7.30pm
St. George’s Bloomsbury, London WC1A 2HR
Directed by David Allinson
Advance Tickets: £12/ Concessions: £10 (to 7pm on Wednesday 8th December 2021)
On the Door (or after 7pm on Wednesday 8th December): £14/ Concessions £12
Attendees are strongly advised to purchase tickets in advance. Cash purchases will not be possible on the door owing to Covid mitigation measures
Palestrina, Missa Hodie Christus natus est for double choir
and seasonal motets by Palestrina and contemporaries
Palestrina wrote superlative music for the Christmas season. Few of his Mass settings are so inventive and joyful as the Missa Hodie Christus natus est, based on his own double choir motet. With moments of solemnity and breadth, this music sparkles with festive optimism: the perfect riposte to the travails of 2021. Equally exciting are Palestrina's motets, from the warm and deceptively simple Alma Redeptoris mater to the rollercoaster of Surge illuminare: 'Arise, shine … for thy light is come’.
To garnish this feast of Roman Renaissance music we take a last look back at Josquin des Prez, whose 500th anniversary was celebrated this year, through the admiring eyes of George de la Héle (1527-1586) by singing the Agnus Dei from de la Héle's Missa Praeter rerum seriem, a glorious fantasia on Josquin’s brilliant Christmas motet. And we catch an echo of our last Christmas concert before the pandemic: in December 2019 we sang a programme built around Mouton’s lively Quaeramus cum pastoribus. In 2021, across the months of pandemic silence, we offer an answering call: Croce’s rich reworking of Mouton’s material as a joyful double-choir motet.
The Covid pandemic remains on-going and as such, we are asking all audience members to follow the following guidelines for attending our concert. These measures have been introduced to enable all attendees and performers to enjoy the concert safely.
These measures will include asking our audience to wear face coverings except whilst seated. Full details of our covid risk mitigations will be provided alongside your tickets. Details of our full risk assessment can be obtained through the button below.
Please note that we will not be able to provide refreshments during the interval or printed programmes due to these risk mitigation measures. However, we will make our concert programme available online in advance of the concert through button below.
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