Recorded for the EBU’s annual Christmas Around Europe, the BBC Singers, Chief Conductor Sofi Jeannin and organist Ashley Grote present a sequence based around the O Antiphons. The O Antiphons form part of the Vespers service in the Christian season of Advent, and each text is used on a specific date from 17th to 23rd December each year. In this sequence, Ashley Grote plays organ settings based on each antiphon by Cecilia McDowall, while the BBC Singers perform settings by seven women composers. The concert opens with the Advent ‘O’ Carol by Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, which draws on the texts of all the O Antiphons.
Presented by Ian Skelly. This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds on Sunday 14 December.
