Past Concerts

Of Light and Angels

Saturday, 21st March 2009, 8pm, Chapter House of York Minster

A musical shaft of divine light, reflected in angels' wings.

Byrd

O lux beata trinitas

Palestrina

Christe qui lux es et dies
Lucis creator optime

Tallis

Te lucis ante terminum
O nata lux

Whyte

Christe qui lux es et dies

Harris

Faire is the Heaven

MacMillan

Tremunt videntes angeli

Rutter

Hymn to the Creator of Light

Todd

Angel Song II

Pott

O Lord support us

Tchaikovsky

Svyetye tikhii

Whitacre

Lux aurumque

Wood

Hail, Gladdening Light

The Stomping Bride and other tales

Saturday, 29th November 2008, 8pm, St Wilfrid's Church, Duncombe Place

Love and death intertwine in a programme of passionate and quirky 20th century music, from spirituals, via the madrigal, to riotous Lithuanian folk music.

Spirituals arr. Allain

Didn't my Lord
Don't you weep
Tis me, O Lord

Hindemith

Six Chansons after Rilke

MacMillan

The Gallant Weaver

Augustinas

The Stomping Bride

Lauridsen

Madrigali — Six ‘Fire Songs’ on Renaissance Italian poems

Vaughan Williams

Three Elizabethan Part Songs:

• Sweet Day
• The Willow Song
• O Mistress Mine

Maw

Five Epigrams (poems by Robert Burns)

Of Flowers and Emeralds Sheen

Saturday, 5th July 2008, 8pm, St. Olave's Church, Marygate

Sensuous, erotic imagery; ravishing music; a flower for all seasons.

Britten

Five Flower Songs

Whitacre

Three Flower Songs

Sandström

Det är en Ros Utsprungen

Pearsall

Lay a Garland

Lauridsen

Les Chansons des Roses

Burgon

Apple Blossom

Burgon

Of Flowers and Emeralds Sheen

Chilcott

I Share Creation

Easter Visions

Saturday, 15th March 2008, 8pm, National Centre for Early Music

Victoria’s ‘Lamentations for Holy Saturday’ of 1585 are austere, devotional settings. Francis Pott’s inspiring Mass provides a modern contrast, having been commissioned for the 2004 London Festival of Contemporary Music.

Victoria

Lamentations for Holy Saturday

Pott

Mass for Five Voices

Jackson

Ave Maria

Bruckner

Motets

I Am the Day

Saturday, 1st December 2007, 8pm, Quire of York Minster

Tallis' magnificent seven voice Mass is interlaced with late twentieth and early twenty-first century offerings, celebrating the Virgin Mary, Advent and Christmas.

Tallis

Mass ‘Puer Natus est Nobis’

Allain

Salve Regina

Victoria

Ave Maris Stella

Poulenc

Four Christmas Motets

Burgon

The Assumption

O’Regan

Three Motets from the Sequence of St. Wulstan

Dove

I Am the Day

Natural Forces

Saturday, 30th June 2007, 8pm, National Centre for Early Music

You’ll need to bring your umbrella for Eric Whitacre’s ‘Cloudburst!’ Then you can use it to swat Steve Chatman’s mosquitoes—unless John McCabe’s birds catch them first. Come and enjoy an evening of music inspired by nature and influenced by everything from madrigals to jazz.

Byrd

Sing Joyfully & Laudibus in Sanctis

Elgar

The Shower & My love dwelt in a northern land

traditional, arr. Ben Parry

Bushes & briars

Desprez

El grillo

McCabe

Proud songsters

Mathias

A May Magnificat

Whitacre

Cloudburst

Wilkinson

I’ve Been in the Storm So Long

Chatman

Due North

Chilcott

Weather Report

Perchance to Dream

Saturday, 31st March 2007, 8pm, Chapter House, York Minster

No chance to fall asleep here! Howells’ dramatic work for President John F. Kennedy’s funeral, and Whitacre’s extraordinary musical depiction of Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine, rub shoulders with the atmospheric Requiem Mass for 8 Voices by Duarte Lobo.

Duarte Lobo

Audivi Vocem de Caelo

Duarte Lobo

Missa pro defunctis

Howells

Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing

Morgan

2 Lullabies (premiere performance of a piece written for the Micklegate Singers)

Whitacre

Sleep

Tavener

Butterfly Dreams

Whitacre

Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine

Nativitas

Saturday, 25th November 2006, 8pm, Quire of York Minster

Follow the celebration of Christ’s nativity through the centuries, from Obrecht and Victoria in the 15th and 16th centuries, to 21st century offerings from Chilcott and Whitacre. Not your average carol concert…

Belmont

Nativitas

Tavener

Birthday Sleep

Lauridsen

O Magnum Mysterium

Villette

O Magnum Mysterium

Whitacre

Lux Aurumque

Victoria

Salve Regina

Obrecht

Salve Regina

Chilcott

Advent Antiphons

‘After Purcell’

Saturday, 15th July 2006, 8pm, Chapter House, York Minster

Music of the greatest English composer of the 17th century is the catalyst for completions and additions to his music by Chilcott, Sandström and Ayres. Pärt’s setting of the genealogy of Jesus is typically mesmeric.

Macmillan

Divo Aloysio Sacrum

Purcell

Hear my Prayer, O Lord

Paul Ayres

Purcell's Funeral Sentence

Herbert Sumsion

In Exile

Hannah Loach

Henry Purcell (in memoriam David Scourse (1980–2003))
— premiere performance of a piece written for the Micklegate Singers

Henry Purcell & Sven-David Sandström

Hear my Prayer, O Lord

John Rutter

Hymn to the Creator of Light

Richard Rodney Bennett

Three Verses (settings of John Donne)

Henry Purcell & Bob Chilcott

My Prayer

Arvo Pärt

Which Was the Son of

Literary Influences

Saturday, 1st April 2006, 8pm, The Priory Street Centre

Comparisons abound in a variety of masterful 20th century Shakespeare settings. These rub shoulders with Raleigh, the humour of Lear and the saucy wit of Wendy Cope as we celebrate the birthdays of Giles Swayne (60) and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (70).

R R Bennett

Calico Pie

Paynter

Inscape World premiere of new commission for the Micklegate Singers

Martin

Songs of Ariel

Vaughan Williams

3 Shakespeare Songs

Swayne

Lonely Hearts, on 5 poems of Wendy Cope (2004 — 1st European Performance)

Cantos Sagrados

Saturday, 10th December 2005, Quire of York Minster, with Stephen Power (organ)

Leighton

The Star-Song

Tavener

Mother and Child (2003)

Dove

Seek him the seven stars

Swayne

Magnificat II (2004)

Schnittke

3 Sacred Hymns

Macmillan

Cantos Sagrados

Rutter

Cantus

L'Entente Cordiale

Saturday, 16th July 2005, The Salvation Army Citadel

Chilcott

Making of the Drum

Clarke

Philomela
Weep You No More Sad Fountains

Shearing

Songs & Sonnets

Villette

Salve Regina

Saint Sæns

Calme Des Nuits
Les Fleurs et Les Arbres

Debussy

3 Chansons

Ravel

3 Chansons

Brewer

Hamba Lulu (encore)

Lenten Reflections

Sunday, 13th March 2005, National Centre for Early Music

Howells

Requiem

Tippett

5 spirituals

Tallis

In ieunio et fletu
Salvator Mundi

Taverner

Dum transisset

Ives

Psalm 67

Tucapsky

5 Lenten Motets

Lotti

Crucifixus

Nystedt

O Crux

I am the True Vine

Saturday, December 11 2004, Chapter House, York Minster

Leighton

What love is this of thine?

Swayne

Missa Tiburtina

Nystedt

Immortal Bach

Part

I am the True Vine

Paynter

The Rose

Poulenc

Un Soir de Neige

Warlock arr Carter

Lullaby my Jesus

Carter

I wonder as I wander

Holst

This have I done for my true love

Blessed are the Peace Makers

Saturday, 17th July 2004, Quire of York Minster, with Stephen Power (organ)

Copland

4 motets

Help us O Lord
Thou O Jehovah
Have mercy upon us
Sing ye praises

Bernstein

French & Latin Choruses from the Lark

Pärt

The Beatitudes

Macmillan

Changed

Macmillan

A Child's Prayer

Bairstow

Let all mortal flesh keep silence

Roxanna Panufnik

Westminster Mass

A Matter Between God and Myself

Saturday, 27th March 2004, St Olave's

Chilcott

2 spirituals

Steal away
Were you there?

Tippett

5 Spirituals from Child of our Time

Villette

3 Motets

O Quam amabilis
Jesu dulcis memoria
Panis angelicus

Messiaen

O Sacrum Convivium

Tavener

Song for Athene

Martin

Mass for double choir

Ave Maria

Saturday, 6th December 2003, St Olave's

Parsons

Ave Maria

Victoria

Ave Maria a 4

Victoria

Ave Maria a 8

Palestrina

Stabat Mater

Bruckner

Ave Maria

Stravinsky

Ave Maria

Guerrero

Ave Virgo Sanctissima

A Panufnik

Song of the Virgin

Rautavaara

Canticum Mariae Virginis

Howells

Regina Coeli

Tavener

Magnificat (Collegium Regale)

Stanford

When Mary to the garden went

Poulenc

Salve Regina

L Berkeley

I sing of a maiden

L Berkeley

In Wintertime

Barratt

What child is this?

Folk, Jazz & ‘Food’

Sunday, 13th July 2003, The Salvation Army Citadel

Seiber

4 Yugoslav Folksongs

Unfaithful lover
Handsome Mirko/18 shining buttons
Heaven above
Hussars/Fairy tale

Vaughan Williams

5 English Folksongs

Dark eyed Sailor
Spring time of the year
Just as the tide
Lover's ghost
Wassail song

Holst

6 Choral Folksongs

Song of the Blacksmith
I sowed the seeds of love
I love my love
Matthew Mark Luke & John
There was a tree
Swansea town

Andrew Carter

3 English Folksongs

O waly waly
I will give my love an apple
Come you not from newcastle

Chilcott

Fragments from his dish

Grace
The clean platter
The pie
Harvest in my croft
Christmas day 1666
Whines from the wood
Grace

Jazz Standards

Don't get around much anymore
Let there be love

“Songs of Springtime” and other 20th Century English Part Songs

Saturday, 5th April 2003, St Olave's

Moeran

Songs of Springtime

Under the greenwood tree
The River God's song
Spring the sweet spring
Love is a sickness
Sigh no more Ladies
Good wine
To daffodils

Warlock

Corpus Christe
The Rich Cavalcade
All the flowers of the Spring
Spring of the Year

Delius

On Craig Dhu
The Splendour Falls
2 Unaccompanied part songs

Stanford

The Bluebird
Quick we have but a second

Bridge

5 Part Songs

Autumn
Music when soft voices die
Hilli-Ho!
O Weary hearts
The Bee

Vaughan Williams

3 Shakespeare Songs

Full fathom five
Cloud capped towers
Over hill over dale

Holst

The Evening-Watch

Elgar

The Shower

Duruflé and Stanford Anniversaries

Saturday, 30th November 2002, York Minster

Stanford

Magnificat in Bb for double choir (op 164)
Eternal Father (op 135)
I heard a voice from Heaven

Duruflé

Requiem
Notre Père
4 motets:

1. Ubi caritas
2. Tota pulchra es
3. Tu es Petrus
4. Tantum ergo

The Sacred Music of William Walton

Saturday, July 13th 2002, St Chad's, with Greg Smith (organ)

William Walton

Cantico del sole
Jubilate
LItany
Magnificat
Nunc dimittis
Coronation Te Deum
Set me as a seal
Where does the uttered music go?
Antiphon
The Twelve

Missa Brevis

Kyrie
Gloria
Santus/Benedictus
Agnus

Come Holy Ghost

Saturday, May 4th 2002, St Chad's

Tallis

Loquebantur variis linguis

Byrd

Veni Creator Spiritus

Vaughan Williams

Whitsunday Hymn

Marlow

Veni Creator Spiritus

Harvey

Come Holy Ghost

Rutter

Psalmfest

O be joyful
I will lift up mine eyes
Praise the lord
Cantate Domino
The lord is my light
O clap your hands
O praise the Lord of heaven

From the Grave to the Cradle

Saturday, 8th December, 2001, The Salvation Army Citadel

Tavener

Funeral Ikos

Purcell

Thou Knowest Lord
Remember Not Lord Our Offences
Hear my Prayer

Holst

Nunc Dimittis

Rubbra

Eternitie
Hymn to God the Father

Holst

The Evening Watch

Rubbra

Mary Mother
Star of the Mystic East

Martland

3 Carols

Britten

Christ's Nativity

Elizabethan Connections

Saturday, 21st July 2001, National Centre for Early Music

Morley/Weelkes/Cavendish/Bennet/Farmer

Madrigals from “The Triumphs of Oriana”,
Part Songs from “A Garland for the Queen”

Howells

Inheritance

Vaughan Williams

Silence and Music

Ireland

The Hills

Finzi

7 poems of Robert Bridges

Rubbra

Missa in Honorem Sancti Dominici

Thursday, 1st March 2001, St Olave's

Tallis

Gaude Glorosa

Leighton

Mass for double choir

Howells

Salve regina

Bach

Jesu Meine Freude

Vaughan Williams

O Vos Omnes

Friday, 8th December 2000, St Olave's

Bax

I Sing of a Maiden.

Tavener

Hymn To The Mother Of God

Lennox Berkeley

I Sing of a Maiden

Britten

Hymn To The Virgin

Gorécki

Totus Tuus

Villette

Adoro Te

Leighton

Lully Lullay

Paynter

The Rose

Dove

Wellcome all wonders in one sight

Palestrina

Motet & Mass - Hodie Christus Natus Est

Music from Latvia

Paulo Buceno Philorodo

Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Chris (First UK performance)

Emilis Melngailis

Four Choruses

Rihards Dubra

Ave Maria Motets

Peteris Plakidis

Nolemtiba-a choral symphony (First UK performance)

A Concert for Peace

Herbert Howells

Mass in the Dorian Mode

John Joubert

Pro Pace Motets

Gustav Holst

Hymns from the Rig Veda (third set)

Towards Christmas

Byrd

Hodie Christus Natus est

Tallis

Mass Puer Natus est Nobis

Villette

Hymne a la vierge

De Severac

Pater Noster

Villette

O Magnum Mysterium

Poulenc

Hodie Christus Natus est

Palestrina

Hodie Christus Natus est

Respighi

Lauda per la Nativita del signore

Cavalli

Magnificat a 8

Josquin

Miserere mei, Deus

Carver

Gaude flore Virginali

Pizzetti

Messa da Requiem

Americana

Copland

Four Old American Songs

Barber

Three Songs (opus 16)

Anon.

Songs from the Big Band Era

Vaughan Williams

Five Mystical Songs (1911)

Benjamin Britten

Saint Nicolas; Cantata Misericordium

Christopher Fox (Micklegate Singers commission, first performance)

A Glimpse of Sion's Glory

Richard Strauss

An dem Baum Daphne

Hubert Parry

Songs of Farewell

Charles Villiers Stanford

Motets

Malcolm Arnold

John Clare Cantata

Elizabeth Maconchy

Samson at the Gates of Gaza

Constant Lambert

Rio Grande

Alun Hoddinott

Dulcia Juventutis; Ingravescentem Aetatis

Paul Drayton

Canticle of Bells

Gordon Crosse

Covenant of the Rainbow

Leonard Bernstein

Chichester Psalms

Britten

Rejoice in the Lamb

Herbert Howells

Coventry Mass

Rubbra

St Dominic Mass

Palestrina

Song of Songs motets

Orff

Catulli Carmina choruses

Monteverdi

Lagrime d'Amante

E J Moeran

Songs of Springtime

David Fanshawe

African Sanctus

Liszt

Missa Choralis

English composers

Motets

Frank Martin

Mass for two choirs

Byrd

Mass for 4-part choir

Herbert Howells

Requiem

Palestrina

Stabat Mater

Carl Orff

Carmina Burana

Maxwell Davies

Shepherds' Calendar

Percy Grainger

Songs

Malcolm Williamson

Four North Country Songs

Parry

Songs of Farewell

Tye

Western Wind Mass

Jasper Rooper

Visio Dei

Tallis

40-part motet Spem in alium

Bruckner

Mass in E minor

Taverner to Tippett

English Church Music

Lennox Berkeley

Missa Brevis

Mozart

Mass in C K 115

Schutz

German Magnificat

Victoria

Mass "Quarti Toni"

Egon Wellesz

Little Mass in G

Vaughan Williams

Three Shakespeare Songs; Five Mystical Songs; Pilgrim's Journey