Hastings Philharmonic Choir at a previous carol concert (photo: Peter Mould).

Carols for all with Hastings Philharmonic Choir

Hastings Philharmonic Choir present their annual Carols For All concert on Saturday 14 December at the beautiful Victorian Christ Church in Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea starting at 5pm. It will be the culmination of a successful year, says press officer Gareth Simpson, who also has advance information on the choir’s offering for 2025.

With Marcio da Silva conducting, accompanied by the renowned Cromwell Brass ensemble, Francis Rayner on piano and the choir of Ore Village Primary Academy, the choir will perform a range of carols at its traditional Christmas concert.

They include William Mathias’ Wassail Carol and Ring Out Ye Bells by local composer Duncan Reid, as well as Morten Lauridsen’s meltingly beautiful setting of the ancient nativity hymn O Magnum Mysterium (‘O great mystery, and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in their manger!’),
along with Benjamin Britten’s tender Hymn to the Virgin.

There will also be such well-known favourites as O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem and Hark the Herald Angels Sing, among others. As always, there will be audience participation in the carol singing and a Christmas raffle.

So come along and get into the festive mood!

2024 has been a very successful year for HPC.  We’ve had two sell-out concerts (Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the spring and Haydn’s ‘Nelson’ Mass with Vivaldi’s Gloria in the autumn, and our summer concert of sacred works by Puccini and Verdi was also very well received.

Successful fund-raising efforts and the generosity of donors allowed us to perform with an orchestra on all three occasions, which added to the thrill of each concert.

Diary dates

Looking ahead to 2025, our spring concert on 5 April 2025 will feature a single work, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater.  Dvořák’s setting of the medieval Christian hymn portraying Mary’s feelings as she watches her son dying on the cross is deeply personal, being closely bound up with his own grief over the deaths of his children.  Yet it ends in hope, with a radiant vision of paradise breaking through the darkness in the final movement.

On 5 July we’ll be bringing you something very different: Northern Lights, a programme of luminous choral works by two great living composers, Arvo Pärt and Ola Gjeilo. We’re delighted that Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra will accompany us for both concerts.

Since our enforced silence during the pandemic, the choir has gone from strength to strength as long-standing members have returned and new singers have joined us.   If you have a good voice and enjoy singing, can follow printed music and would like to join us, why not come along to one of our rehearsals in the new year?  For further information see our website and/or drop us an email.

Carols for All, with Hastings Philharmonic Choir, Cromwell Brass Ensemble, Francis Rayner and Ore Village Primary Academy choir Saturday 14 December, 5pm, Christ Church, Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6GL.

Adults £15/£12.50/£10. Under 18s, students, universal credit/JSA recipients £3/free. Tickets are available from the choir website or The Bookkeeper Bookshop, 1a Kings Road, St Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6EA.

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