Noël - A Concert For Christmas

Join Brockenhurst Choir for a joyful Concert of Christmas music.

The Concert starts with a new award-winning Anthem by Matthew Kelley , our MD. "Christ Inviting" was written during the start of 2024 by Matthew Kelley (b. 1999), and is based on the opening verses of a similarly-titled poem by the English congregational minister, hymnwriter and theologian Isaac Watts (1674-1748). His words throughout the poem are an emotional and thankful response to God's invitation to join our 'hearts, hopes and passions' with him. This piece won 1st Prize in this year's Isaac Watts Composition Competition, devised in 2024 to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Watts' birth. The work will be premiered by Brockenhurst Choir in November at Avenue St Andrew's Church in Southampton, as part of a celebration of Watts within his birthplace and hometown.

Charpentier's "Messe de Minuit pour Noël (Midnight Mass for Christmas) sets the text of the Latin Mass to the tunes of traditional French Christmas Carols. They are worked over and elaborated producing a lively and appealing work..

Vaughan Williams was an avid collector of traditional English folk tunes - as were several of his contemporaries. His "Fantasia on Christmas Carols" sets five traditional Carols to music for Baritone and Choir. He manages to work in several other fragments of folk tunes and carols in the interludes.

Joanna Forbes L'Estrange has written a hauntingly beautiful gentle Carol in which the traditional gifts of Gold , Frankincense and Myrrh are replaced by gifts and actions which will preserve our planet.

There will be further Carols for both Choir and Audience in the second half.