Truro Cathedral Choir: Rejoice and Be Merry
Truro Cathedral's celebrated choir presents a spectacular selection of festive music to get you into the Christmas spirit. With favourite carols including O come all ye faithful and In the bleak midwinter, the programme spans everything from the 15th-century to present-day classics. Set in the inspiring surroundings of Truro Cathedral with the sounds of our Cornish choristers soaring around, this varied concert is guaranteed to give you some Christmas cheer!
Programme
A Gallery Carol – John Gardner
Adam lay ybounden – Peter Warlock
The Annunciation – Jonathan Harvey
Nesciens mater – Jean Mouton
Audience carol: O little town of Bethlehem
There is no rose – Anonymous
There is no rose – Elizabeth Maconchy
In the bleak midwinter – Harold Darke
Shepherd’s Pipe Carol – John Rutter
Interval
Verbum caro factum est – Tamsin Jones
A tender shoot – Otto Goldschmidt
There is a flower – John Rutter
Sing Lullaby – Herbert Howells
The Infant King – Basque traditional arr. Edgar Pettman
Audience carol: While shepherds watched
A virgin most pure – Traditional arr. Charles Wood
Organ solo: Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson arr. Thomas Trotter
A Cornish Christmas Carol – Piers Connor Kennedy
Audience carol: O come, all ye faithful
I saw three ships – arr. Simon Preston
Truro Cathedral Choir
Truro Cathedral Choir has an unbroken tradition dating back to the 1880s, when services took place in a wooden shed while John Loughborough Pearson’s cathedral was under construction. Today, the choir usually performs with either its boy choristers or its girl choristers, joined by its twelve adult professional singers.
As well as singing at seven services each week, the choir undertakes regular concerts, broadcasts, webcasts, foreign tours, and CD recordings. The choir has appeared on BBC1, BBC2, BBC4, and ITV, as well as taking part in regular live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. In May 2023, Truro’s were among the first girl choristers in history to sing at a British coronation, performing alongside other world-class musicians for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey. The choir’s recordings have included single-composer discs of music by Maurice Duruflé, Louis Vierne, Benjamin Britten, Philip Stopford, Gabriel Jackson, Dobrinka Tabakova and Russell Pascoe. A wealth of new music has been written specially for the choir by many of the UK’s leading composers.
Truro Cathedral Choir sings Choral Evensong at 5.30pm most weeks during term time on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Sunday sung services are at 10.00am and 4.00pm.