An Italian Christmas

Sunday 8 December 2024

Seasonal music from Italy to include works by Gabrieli, Palestrina, and Monteverdi

An Italian Christmas

Seasonal music from Italy to include works by Gabrieli, Palestrina, and Monteverdi

Mansfield College Chapel, Mansfield Road, Oxford

Tickets

Conductor James Brown

Baritone Daniel Tate

Organist Dónal McCann

Tickets £12 (students £8)

The Cherwell Singers continues its exploration of Christmas music from different lands by this year focusing exclusively on Italy.

The glories of Italian Renaissance music, which reached its height with the polyphony of Palestrina, as well as the polychoral tradition of the Venetian masters like Gabrieli and Monteverdi, are explored in the first half of this concert, with some of their most famous Christmas motets. This is indeed a rich seam for us to mine, and the choir will frequently be split into eight parts. Unfortunately Italian choral music in later centuries never reached the heights of the Renaissance and Baroque masters, but we have nonetheless included in the second half of the concert some charming arrangements of traditional Italian carol melodies that I feel confident will be enjoyed by all. In two of these carols the choir will be joined once again by local baritone soloist Daniel Tate, and the organist for the concert will be Dónal McCann.

Do join us for an Italian Christmas celebration in the lofty setting of Mansfield College Chapel.