What sweeter music: Online broadcast for Abbey Christmas concert

Tuesday, 1st December 2020

What sweeter music: Online broadcast for Abbey Christmas concert

Westminster Abbey’s traditional Christmas concert will be broadcast to audiences around the world as the Abbey Choir performs as part of the Live from London – Christmas festival.

The concert, What sweeter music, will be broadcast online at 7.00pm on Tuesday 15th December and ticket holders will be able to tune in live and/or on demand at any time from the date of broadcast until 15th January.

Taking its inspiration from the traditional Festival of Lessons and Carols, the concert programme combines an enticing selection of seasonal choral music, much-loved carols and biblical readings telling the story of Christmas. Harpist Sally Pryce and broadcaster Catherine Bott joined the Abbey musicians for the performance, which was recorded ‘as live’ in the Abbey earlier this month with former Abbey choristers Barnaby and Paul Smith (respectively Artistic Director and CEO of the Festival) behind the cameras.

The Abbey Choir is renowned worldwide as one of the finest ensembles of its type, its repertoire extending from plainsong and Renaissance polyphony to twentieth-century masterpieces and new commissions. In addition to singing the daily services, as it has done since the fourteenth century, the Choir plays a central role in the many royal and state occasions which are held in the Abbey, as well as reaching a wider audience through its programme of broadcasts, recordings and international tours.

Live from London – Christmas is an online season of sixteen concerts presented by the VOCES8 Foundation to reunite musicians and audiences during the coronavirus pandemic. It follows the success of the inaugural Live from London festival in the summer which saw performances broadcast in more than 60 countries.

For further information and to book concert tickets: www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events/choral-and-music/2020/december/live-from-london-christmas-what-sweeter-music