Felicitas concert: The Gifts of Christmas – a concert for choir and brass

Chamber choir Felicitas will be joined by brass and organ instrumentalists to perform Gabrieli’s rich Renaissance setting of Hodie Christus natus est, Bruckner’s dramatic motet Ecce Sacerdos and two sets of carol arrangements: Three Baroque Carols by Roderick Elms and Gifts by David Wallace. These will be interspersed with more tranquil moments of unaccompanied Renaissance-era music and seasonal items by contemporary composers, to include: • Missa O magnum mysterium by Tomás Luis de Victoria, one of the best-regarded composers of sacred music in the late Renaissance • Thomas Tallis’ O nata lux, which also provided harmonic inspiration for James MacMillan in his intensely emotive setting of O Radiant Dawn • Judith Bingham’s mysterious and reflective The Shepherd’s Gift; and David Winters’ arrangement of the Huron Carol which re-imagines the Nativity story in the wilds of Canada, both continuing the theme of gifts • Elizabeth Poston’s poignant setting of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree and Jim Arr Clements’ reflective arrangement of Gabriel’s Message.