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Past Concerts

If you're trying to get hold of the sheet music for any of these pieces, please see our Library page.

2007–2008

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

2006–2007

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

2005–2006

‘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

2004–2005

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

2003–2004

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?

2002–2003

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

2001–2002

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

2000–2001

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

1998–99

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)

1996–97

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

1992–3

(Choral Enterprise Award, Performing Right Society for 1992–3)

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

1985–6

(Choral Enterprise Award, Performing Right Society for 1985–6)

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

1984–5

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

1979–80

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

1977–8

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

1971–2

Victoria
Mass "Quarti Toni"
Egon Wellesz
Little Mass in G
Vaughan Williams
Three Shakespeare Songs; Five Mystical Songs; Pilgrim's Journey