Of one that is so fair and bright

USA Tour

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge

The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge and their director Graham Ross present a sumptuous Christmas programme in praise of the Virgin Mary and the coming of the light.  Renaissance masterpieces, including Hieronymus Praetorius’s Christmas Magnificat (performed with its original interpolated carols) sit alongside more recent much-loved seasonal works, including motets by Howells, Britten, Tavener, and Rutter, and some highly-catchy arrangements guaranteed to put you in the festive mood.  A perfect start to the Christmas season.

PLAINSONG Verbum supernum prodiens
GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA (c. 1525–94) Surge, illuminare
WILLIAM BYRD (c. 1539/40–1623) Vigilate

JOHN TAVENER (1944–2013) Today the Virgin
RICHARD WILBERFORCE (b. 1985) Remember Bethlehem
HERBERT HOWELLS (1892–1983) Long, long ago

MORTEN LAURIDSEN (b. 1943) O magnum mysterium

HIERONYMUS PRAETORIUS (1560–1629) Magnificat quinti toni (with Josef lieber and In dulci jubilo)

– interval –

CHARLES WOOD (1866–1926) Hail, gladdening light!
TRADITIONAL Gaudete
JOHN JOUBERT (b. 1927) Torches

BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913–76) A Hymn to the Virgin
PIERRE VILLETTE (1926–98) Hymne à la Vierge

TRADITIONAL arr. DAVID WILLCOCKS (1919–2015) The infant king
JOHN RUTTER (b. 1945) What sweeter music

WILL TODD (b. 1970) My Lord has come
FRANZ GRÜBER (1787–1863) arr. GRAHAM ROSS (b. 1985) Silent night (world première)

WILLIAM MATHIAS (1934–92) A babe is born
JAMES BURTON (b. 1974) Tomorrow shall be my dancing day

Arr. JAMES MAWSON (b. 1988) Santa Baby
Trad. arr. FREDERIC AUSTIN (1872–1952) arr. IAN HUMPRHIS (1927–2012) The Twelve Days of Christmas