Britten : Canticle II : Abraham and Isaac Op. 51

Britten : Rejoice in the Lamb Op.30 (orch. Imogen Holst)

Mozart : Requiem K 626

Soloists : Brittany King – soprano, Henry Kimber – hautcontre, Greg Tassell – tenor, Julian Debreuil – bass

Tickets – £15.00 for Nave (£8.00 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or Gallery (limited view) £8.00. Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets will be available from members of the Society, at the door (cash or card), or on-line from www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Doors open from 6.45 p.m. Apart from seats marked for Patrons, there are no allocated seats.

Content to be confirmed.

Tickets – £15.00 for Nave (£8.00 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or Gallery (limited view) £8.00. Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets will be available from members of the Society, at the door (cash or card), or on-line from www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Doors open from 6.45 p.m. Apart from seats marked for Patrons, there are no allocated seats.

Content to be confirmed.

Content to be confirmed.

All dates are 7.30 p.m. on Saturdays in Sunderland Minster, unless otherwise noted.

March 28th 2026 – Mozart ‘Requiem’, Britten’s Canticle II ‘Abraham and Isaac’, and Imogen Holst’s orchestration of ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’

June 13th 2026 – An evening of Opera with Bradley Creswick

December 12th 2026 – Content to be confirmed

March 20th 2027 – Content to be confirmed

Brahms re-wrote the Requiem rulebook with his Opus 45. The full title of the work is ‘A German Requiem, according to the words of the Holy Scripture’. Taking almost eight years to complete, he discarded the familiar Latin texts and instead chose less well known extracts from the Lutheran Protestant Bible in his native German. Often performed to a setting for two pianos, this performance will be using a new chamber scoring by Iain Farrington for 8 players whilst retaining the original piano texture of the Brahms arrangement he adds woodwind and strings.

Tickets – £15.00 for Nave (£8.00 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or Gallery (limited view) £8.00. Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets will be available from members of the Society, at the door (cash or card), or on-line from www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Doors open from 6.45 p.m. Apart from seats marked for Patrons, there are no allocated seats.

Soloists : Ana Fernandez Guerra – soprano, Daniel Joy – tenor, Andre Bjorn Robertsson – bass baritone

The Creation is an oratorio written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 and 1798. It is considered by many to be one of his masterpieces. The oratorio depicts and celebrates the creation of the world as described in the Book of Genesis. The Creation is structured in three parts, with the first part dealing with the creation of light, heaven and earth, the sun and moon, the land and water, and plants, and the second part concerning the creation of the animals, man and woman.

Haydn was inspired to create The Creation following his trips to the UK, where he heard the oratorios of Handel still being performed with massive choirs.

Tickets – £15.00 for Nave (£8.00 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or Gallery (limited view) £8.00. Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets will be available from members of the Society, at the door (cash or card), or on-line from www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Doors open from 6.45 p.m. Apart from seats marked for Patrons, there are no allocated seats.

The concert will consist of the Christmas section of Handel’s Messiah and a mix of lovely Chilcott and Rutter favourites. A feature of the concert will be a newly composed item by Lucy Walker commissioned by Bishopwearmouth Choral Society

Soloists : Alexandra Lee – soprano, Davina Halford-McLeod – mezzo soprano, Archie Inns – tenor & Patrick Owston – bass.

Tickets – £15.00 for Nave (£8.00 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or Gallery (limited view) £8.00. Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets will be available from members of the Society, at the door (cash or card), or on-line from www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Doors open from 6.45 p.m. Apart from seats marked for Patrons, there are no allocated seats.

Requiem – Gabriel Fauré

Cantique de Jean Racine – Gabriel Fauré

Panis Angelicus – César Franck

Originally composed in five movements, between 1887 and 1890, Fauré’s Requiem is more contemplative and lyrical than others. It has been described asa ‘lullaby of death’. Even the ‘dies irae’, the day of wrath, subsumed within the ‘libera me’, quickly gives way to an appeal to grant eternal rest. Indeed the texts of the libera me and in paradisum are taken from the book of burial rather than the liturgy of the requiem mass. Other, more subtle, changes to the texts include seeking deliverance for ‘all souls departed’ rather than the original ‘all faithful souls departed’.

The Cantique de Jean Racine was written for a competition when Fauré was just 19. It won first prize! The composition was dedicated to César Franck, the composer of ‘Panis Angelicus’ which completes our choral offering.

‘Panis Angelicus’ is a verse from the hymn ‘Sacris solemniis’, which was written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi in the 13th century. Franck composed a Mass (Messe ä trois voix) dating from 1861 that incorporates the text but it is more often, as here, performed as a separate piece.

Tickets – £15.00 for Nave (£8.00 concessions for full-time students and on income related benefits) or Gallery (limited view) £8.00. Accompanied under 16s free. Tickets will be available from members of the Society, at the door (cash or card), or on-line from www.wegottickets.com/BCS – who also have a direct link on the home page of this website.

Doors open from 6.45 p.m. Apart from seats marked for Patrons, there are no allocated seats.