En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Lauridsen

Britten’s Ceremony of Carols with pieces by Tavener, MacMillan and Lauridsen contrast with Byrd and Dowland in a thoughtful and moving performance of Christmas musical icons from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus.

Choral concerts often have programmes that read like compilation CDs. I don’t mean this negatively: there are countless reasons why a greater number of contrasting pieces is required – timbral, textual, temporal, contextual, historical, and so on.

This was my second visit to the Brandenburg Choral Festival, and I was looking forward to seeing younger performers tackle some challenging music. The experience outlined in the programme that Oakham School Chamber Choir have had is impressive, with the school giving over 80 concerts a year and touring recently to Dublin and Paris.

After 25 years at the helm, John Daly Goodwin, Music Director of the New York Choral Society (NYCS), gave his final concert Friday night at Carnegie Hall. Titled ‘American Reflections’, all five works had an historical relationship with the New York Choral Society, three of which were commissioned and premiered by the NYCS: Paulus’ Whitman’s New York, De Cormier’s Legacy and Gould’s Quotations.

A fair amount of Bruckner gets performed in Vienna, but it’s rare to hear a Bruckner Mass and even rarer to hear one programmed alongside a piece like Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna.

An anniversary is undeniably a time for celebration, a time to reflect on past accomplishments whilst keeping the future in close view. This was the case for Tafelmusik’s Chamber Choir on the eve of their 30th anniversary.

A celebration of London with a tube map as a programme. What better way to celebrate 2012 and the coming of the Olympics? From Thomas Tallis’ Spem in Alium to Lionel Bart’s ‘Who Will Buy?’ from Oliver!, the night’s performance was not short of variety. It was clear that the conductor David Ogden had put great effort into the programme, and it was certainly worthwhile.

It seemed fitting that the Calton Consort's Tenth Anniversary Concert should also be a celebration of the genre they have made their own - contemporary music. Under the direction of Jason Orringe - conductor since its foundation - the choir offered a very varied programme of choral music by living composers, ranging in age from 41 to 103.