Christ Church Cathedral Choir Performs During Great Music at St. Bart's

The Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Stephen Darlington, conductor, will perform a concert at St. Bartholomew's Church as part of the Great Music Series on Monday, April 4 at 7:30 pm.

The concert will include some of the greatest works in the Anglican choral repertoire including Tallis' "Christe Jesu," Gibbons' "O clap your hands," Handel's "Zadok the Priest" (from the Coronation Anthems), Britten's "Te Deum in C," and Walton's "Jubilate Deo." Additonally, the organ scholars Ben Sheen and Michael Heighway will play works of Bach and Vierne.

The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, was founded just under 500 years ago by Thomas Wolsey and Henry VIII. The choir performs daily services throughout the year in the cathedral. The boy choristers attend the choir school attached to Christ Church and about half of the men are undergraduates at Oxford University. Now world famous in their own right for the excellence and versatility of their singing, the choir tours worldwide, including recent trips to Jamaica, Bermuda and the Leipzig Bach Festival. In March 2010, the Choir travelled to Germany for two performances of Haydn's Creation with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and in April 2011 the Choir will tour the US and Canada performing in Charlotte, New York, Washington, Boston and Toronto. As well as tours further afield, the Choir gives concerts throughout the year around the UK, this last year performing at St John's Smith Square, The Sheldonian Theatre, Malmesbury Abbey and of course in its Cathedral home in Oxford.

The choir undertakes a prodigious recording schedule, recent CDs including Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas (Avie) by John Taverner (Christ Church's first Director of the Choir in 1526); More Divine than Human: Music from The Eton Choirbook (Avie) (Vespers 1610 CD of the year; nominated for a 2010 Gramophone Award ), Wellesz Choral Music (Nimbus); Britten The Golden Vanity and Children's Crusade; Janacek The Lord's Prayer; Palestrina Missa Ecce Ego Johannes; De Monte Missa Aspice Domine & Motets; Lassus Penitential Psalms; Goodall Winter Lullabies for boys with Catrin Finch on harp, in addition to several compilation recordings.

Tickets at $35 and $25 with a rate of $25 and $15 for students and senior citizens may be purchased at the concert office at 325 Park Ave. between the hours of 9 am and 6 pm or by calling (212) 378-0248 or online at the Great Music website. Angel Club tickets at $100, which includes a $65 tax-deductible contribution to Great Music at St. Bart's, will also be available.

The Great Music Series, produced by the Mid-Manhattan Performing Arts Foundation, Inc., offers a diverse variety of concerts from large scale choral works and organ concerts in the church to chamber music and jazz in the acoustically remarkable chapel. Crucial to the musical programming of the series is St. Bartholomew's Choir, a fully professional choir, and the Boy and Girl Choristers, renowned as one of the finest children's choir in the metropolitan area. The church also possesses an Aeolian/Skinner pipe organ of 168 stops, the largest in New York City and considered to be one of the greatest examples of the American Classic Organ of the 20th century.

Great Music concerts take place at St. Bartholomew's Church at the corner of Park Avenue and 51sst Street. Subway: 6 to 51sst Street. For more information, call (212) 378-0248 or visit www.stbarts.org