An evening of Russian choral gems with the Holst Singers

As Autumn sets in, the City of London Sinfonia give us a final taste of Midsummer in a charming and diverse concert. 

Living in the city is alternately an experience of exhilarating interconnectedness and one of unbearable loneliness. On the good days, you share a sympathetic smile with your fellow commuters on a packed Tube train, you trade easy banter with the cashier at the Sainsbury’s checkout, and you feed off the buzz of the crowd as you head out for a night in Shoreditch.

It isn't often you hear six members of the Estonian Television Girls Choir join forces with the Holst Singers and Imogen Heap to perform a live a cappella soundtrack to a 1920s French surrealist film about a libidinous priest. But I am delighted to have seized the opportunity last night, when this bizarre setup hit the Camden Roundhouse as part of this year's genre-baiting Reverb festival.

Pour la dernière soirée du Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, programme Haydn/J.C. Bach/Mozart/Haendel à Shoreditch Church, par le City of London Sinfonia et le chœur Polyphony dirigés par Stephen Layton : une clôture de festival réussie.

Stephen Layton conducts Haydn and Handel, and is joined by soprano Sara Macliver for Bach and Mozart for a joyful evening. 

A star-studded group of soloists and a wonderful choir make for an interesting, if not always convincing, interpretation of Bach's joyous oratorio.