The Ebor Singers offer their annual performance of Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, alongside Charpentier's Messe de Minuit

Few pieces capture the joy and expectation of Christmas quite as well as Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. This striking setting in elevThe Ebor Singers present Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols alongside Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël – two wonderfully contrasting visions of Christmas.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Britten's death, and we perform Britten’s popular A Ceremony of Carols, dating from the Second World War, alongside his Hymn to the Virgin, written when was he was just 16. Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit pour Noël was written in France in the 1690s for the celebration of Christmas. Written for Midnight Mass, Charpentier draws on traditional Christmas music, weaving familiar French Noël melodies into the Latin Mass. The result is elegant, rhythmic and wonderfully colourful Baroque music, with the carols giving the work an unmistakably festive character.

Description supplied by the event organiser.