Christmas 2023

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is time for home." (Edith Sitwell)

Hosts VOCES8 welcomed you back to the group’s home, the VOCES8 Centre at St Anne and St Agnes in London, for this cosy winter festival full of fireside favourites.

Beginning with a live-streamed ‘Christmas with J.S. Bach’ from the VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Baroque Orchestra conducted by Barnaby Smith, the festivities also included: a debut from triple-Grammy nominated US ensemble Skylark as it reteld Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ narrated by Sarah Walker; The Gesualdo Six took centuries of Advent as its inspiration for ‘O Magnum Mysterium’; the VOCES8 Foundation Choir’s Handel ‘Messiah’ returned by popular demand.

Foundation ensemble Apollo5 gave the concert premiere of its new album ’Haven’ whilst VOCES8 spun a wintery web of heavenly harmonies in its a cappella programme ’Silver Bells’.

From Byrd, Bach and Handel to new commissions and popular jazz and songs – wherever you were in the world, Foundation friends provided a sparkling LIVE From London Christmas 2023.