Annual Christmas Carol Concert – 7pm on Saturday 12th December 2020
Sadly, our much-loved carol concert with the world-famous Black Dyke Band at Sheffield City Hall had to be abandoned because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, Chorus and band have been working on a virtual Christmas carol concert, recorded from our own homes. The concert will feature a new version of the 16th century carol Resonet in Laudibus, arranged for brass band and chorus by our Music Director Darius Battiwalla, and the beautiful traditional Welsh lullaby Suo Gan, sung in Welsh with violin, harp and organ.
We are thrilled that our new Patron, BBC Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny, has kindly agreed to present the concert, something he has done at the City Hall a number of times over the last few years.
With the Chorus accompanist Rachel Fright on the piano, and Music Director Darius Battiwalla on the Leeds Town Hall organ, this will be a virtual concert not to be missed!
Programme
Resonet in Laudibus arr. D. Battiwalla. Chorus, Black Dyke Band, Darius Battiwalla (organ)
Suo Gan (Welsh traditional) Chorus, Susan Voss (violin), Eira Lynn (harp), Darius Battiwalla (organ)
Deck the Hall arr. Langford. Chorus (a capella)
Gaelic Blessing John Rutter. Chorus, Rachel Fright (piano)
The Holly and the Ivy John Gardner. Chorus, Rachel Fright (piano)
Hark the Herald Angels Sing Mendelssohn. Chorus, Black Dyke Band, Darius Battiwalla (organ)
‘Awake Arise’ – our Christmas CD – an ideal Christmas gift
Buy our Christmas CD ‘Awake, Arise! A Yorkshire Christmas Carol Collection for Brass and Voices‘, recorded with the world-famous Black Dyke Band. This collection has a real Yorkshire flavour and includes some of the Sheffield carols, traditionally sung in Sheffield pubs over the Christmas period.
It also includes arrangements by the Chorus’s gifted Music Director, Darius Battiwalla, of such Christmas classics as Joy to The World and O Holy Night, a firm favourite at our annual Christmas concerts at Sheffield City Hall. Other favourites include I Saw Three Ships and Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the band playing the March from Tchaicovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and the wonderful Sleigh Ride from Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé.
To order your copy for £12 including postage and packing, please contact
You might also like to check out our most recent CD Anthems, Hymns and Gloria for Brass Band, which reached Number One in Classic FM’s specialist classical albums recently, as well as being Album of the Week. The CD, directed by Professor Nicholas Childs and Chorus Music Director Darius Battiwalla, was recorded in St Oswald’s Church on Bannerdale Road in Sheffield. It features eleven tracks composed by Rutter and arranged for brass band by Belgian conductor Luc Vertommen, including the Pie Jesu from his 1985 Requiem, and This is the Day composed for the wedding of HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. For further details and how to purchase, see Anthems, Hymns and Gloria for Brass Band
Carol Singing
Each year members of the Chorus volunteer to sing Christmas carols at a range of venues around Sheffield. Sadly none of the singalongs proved possible this year. However, the Chorus has contributed music from the ‘Awake Arise’ Christmas CD with the world-famous Black Dyke Band, to a virtual carol concert in aid of youth homelessness charity Roundabout.
Also, St Luke’s Festival of Light Service of Remembrance will be virtual rather than a live service this year. We were very keen to contribute to this very special event, as we do every year, and you can hear us sing ‘We Saw Three Ships‘ from our Awake Arise CD on the St Luke’s website
See What’s On this week in Sheffield on the Classical Sheffield website
