Music for Advent and Christmas, particularly as seen through the eyes of the Shepherds, featuring Palestrina, Leighton, Dove, McDowall, Chilcott and more. With the first performances of two Micklegate Singers commissions: The Road of Evening composed by James Else, and Joe Bates’ Absence.

Palestrina: Rorate Coeli

Lassus: Quem vidistis, pastores?

Chilcott: The Shepherds’ Carol

Gustav Holst: This have I done for my true love

Richard Dering: Quem vidistis, pastores?

Jonathan Dove: Welcome all wonders in one sight

David Bednall: BC:AD - This was the Moment

Alexander L’Estrange: Epiphany Carol

Cecilia McDowall: Now may we singen

Kenneth Leighton: A Hymn of the Nativity

Joe Bates: Absence

James Else: The Road of Evening

Francis Poulenc: Quem vidistis, pastores?

Richard Rodney Bennett: Gloria, Gloria

Earth, Wind and Fire are all represented in this varied programme which also touches on the Seasons, and that most elemental of forces - Love.

As in each concert this year, we are including the premiere of a piece specially written for the Micklegate Singers.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Spring Time of the Year; Over Hill, Over Dale

EJ Moeran: Spring the Sweet Spring

Camille Saint-Saëns: Les Fleurs et les Arbres; Calme des Nuits

Joseph Kosma (arr. Andrew Carter): Autumn Leaves

Edward Elgar: O Wild West Wind; Weary Wind of the West

Herbert Howells: The Shadows

John Ireland: The Hills

Claude Debussy: Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain

Peter Moger: The Dove Descending (first performance)

with pieces by Peter Klatzow, Ola Gjeilo, James Whitbourn, Jussi Chydenius and Phillip Cooke

A concert of old and new music in honour of the Virgin Mary, the Star of the Sea. Lobo’s Missa Sancta Maria dates from 1621, the golden age of Portuguese polyphony. In addition to being hailed as Star of the Sea, Mary is also known as the Queen of Heaven, which is reflected in other works in our programme. We also include the delayed premiere of a Micklegate commission by David McGregor, They That Love Beyond the World. This atmospheric piece is the first of three collaborations with young composers at The University of York, setting words written by William Penn, an early Quaker and the founder of Pennsylvania.

Our full programme is as follows:

Missa Sancta Maria - Duarte Lôbo
Regina Caeli - Cecilia McDowall
Ave Maris Stella - Edvard Grieg
Ave Maris Stella - Tomás Luis De Victoria
Salve Regina - Pierre Villette
Splendid Jewel - Stephen Paulus
Ave Regina Caelorum - Alonso Lobo
Ave Regina Caelorum - Peter Philips
Ave Regina Caelorum - Cecilia McDowall
Hortus Conclusus - Rodrigo Ceballos
They That Love Beyond the World - David McGregor
(A Micklegate Singers commission, first performance)