Our Christmas Concert is suitable for all the family, as we tell the
story of Christmas with the help of soloists Bethany Horak-Hallett,
Justin Lavender and Dan D’Souza and the Bach Camerata. We will raise
the roof through a number of well-loved carols for audience, choir
and orchestra including Joy to the World, O come all ye faithful,
It came upon the midnight clear and Jingle Bells; we will
let our hair down with a Christmas medley including The Christmas
Song, Winter Wonderland and Have yourself a merry
little Christmas; and we will be dazzled by our guest soloists
leading the choir in O Holy Night, Errolyn Wallen’s Peace
on Earth, and Vaughan Williams’s ever popular Fantasia on
Christmas Carols.
At the centre of the concert is a rare performance of the cantata
Song of Simeon, written in 1960 for the Theatre Royal, Drury
Lane, by Northampton-born composer Sir Malcolm Arnold. A beautifully
atmospheric work, narrating the key events of Christmas from Mary’s
Annunciation through to Simeon receiving Christ in the Temple,
including along the way a bawdy Innkeeper and his wife, some drunken
shepherds, and an Arabian dance from the orchestra, it is sure to be
a hit with the audience.
Our concert is given at Cripps Hall Theatre, on the campus of
Northampton School for Boys. With comfortable seating, plenty of
space for mulled wine and soft drinks in the interval, and ample
parking opposite, it is a perfect venue for our Christmas family
festivities.Programme:
Northampton Bach Choir
Bach Camerata
Conductor - Simon Toyne
Mezzo-Soprano - Bethany Horak-Hallett
Tenor - Justin Lavender
Baritone - Dan D’Souza
A Christmas Carol, Walford Davies
A Song of Simeon, Malcolm Arnold
A Child is born in Bethlehem, Samuel Scheidt
Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Ralph Vaughan Williams
O Holy Night, Adolphe Adam
Peace on earth, Errolyn Wallen
A Christmas medley, arranged by Simon Ferris
plus carols for choir, orchestra and audience |
Previous Concert
