Opus 48 | A Christmas Wolcum | Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols & Carols for All
University Church of St Mary The Virgin, Oxford, OX1 4BJ
Saturday 12th December 2026 7:00PM
Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols and carols for choir and organ
Christmas choral music has a repertoire all of its own: centuries of carols, sacred texts and traditions which composers have continually rediscovered and reimagined. A Christmas Wolcum brings together two particularly distinctive responses to it.
At its heart is Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. Accompanied by harp and performed in its version for mixed choir, its movements set medieval English and Latin texts in music that can be rhythmically exuberant one moment and strikingly spare the next. From the lively welcome of Wolcum Yole! to the stillness of There is no Rose and Balulalow, it is one of Britten’s most distinctive Christmas choral works.
Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols inhabits a different sound world. Written for baritone solo, choir and accompaniment, it draws together traditional English carols in music that feels at once familiar yet much more expansive than a simple sequence of Christmas melodies.
Around these two works, Opus 48 and David Crown present a selection of Christmas music for choir and organ: some familiar, some less so, and chosen for rather more than their seasonal credentials.
And it would be a shame to leave all the singing to the choir! There will also be a few carols for everyone to join in… a chance to hear some of the finest Christmas choral music in the wonderful acoustic of the University Church, and to add your own voice to it too.
Join us to sing in your Christmas celebrations.
Opus 48 – named in honour of Fauré’s Requiem – is an exciting medium-sized choral society in Oxfordshire, performing an impressive range of repertoire to the very highest standard. Opus 48 rehearse and perform under the baton of Musical Director, David Crown, one of the leading choral conductors in the UK. To read more about Opus 48 and their upcoming season, please visit their website:
www.opus48choir.co.uk
Christmas choral music has a repertoire all of its own: centuries of carols, sacred texts and traditions which composers have continually rediscovered and reimagined. A Christmas Wolcum brings together two particularly distinctive responses to it.
At its heart is Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. Accompanied by harp and performed in its version for mixed choir, its movements set medieval English and Latin texts in music that can be rhythmically exuberant one moment and strikingly spare the next. From the lively welcome of Wolcum Yole! to the stillness of There is no Rose and Balulalow, it is one of Britten’s most distinctive Christmas choral works.
Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols inhabits a different sound world. Written for baritone solo, choir and accompaniment, it draws together traditional English carols in music that feels at once familiar yet much more expansive than a simple sequence of Christmas melodies.
Around these two works, Opus 48 and David Crown present a selection of Christmas music for choir and organ: some familiar, some less so, and chosen for rather more than their seasonal credentials.
And it would be a shame to leave all the singing to the choir! There will also be a few carols for everyone to join in… a chance to hear some of the finest Christmas choral music in the wonderful acoustic of the University Church, and to add your own voice to it too.
Join us to sing in your Christmas celebrations.
Opus 48 – named in honour of Fauré’s Requiem – is an exciting medium-sized choral society in Oxfordshire, performing an impressive range of repertoire to the very highest standard. Opus 48 rehearse and perform under the baton of Musical Director, David Crown, one of the leading choral conductors in the UK. To read more about Opus 48 and their upcoming season, please visit their website:
www.opus48choir.co.uk
Event Details
Starts at 7:00PM
