‘The Forty Days of Christmas’ is presented by the Choir of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, at Belfast Cathedral in a lunchtime recital running from 1.10pm-1.55pm on Saturday January 11.

The choir presents a programme of music from across the seasons of Advent, the Nativity, the Epiphany, and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. This diverse forty-five minute recital for choir, organ, and instruments includes music by Buxtehude, Bairstow, le Jeune, Zespedes, Brahms, and Amy Beach, and features works written for the choir by Oscar Ridout, Sophie Westbrooke, and Peter Foggitt.

The Choir of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, sings weekly Eucharist, Evensong and Compline during termtime, and makes frequent visits elsewhere for services and concerts. Recent engagements have included Verdi Requiem at the Hampstead Arts Festival, a service of Festal Evensong at Aldeburgh Parish Church, a sequence for Advent at the Temple Church, London, and tours to Barcelona, Krakow, and Munich. Future plans include a tour to the South of France, Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, and a recording of works commissioned for the Choir. The Choir is comprised largely of current students at the University of Cambridge, and also attracts graduates and others from around the city. Choir members receive singing lessons, extensive entertainment at College expense (including a number of notable dinners and feasts), and enjoy an active social life. College traditions involving the Choir include the annual Ascension Day Eucharist, in which a priest with a megaphone ascends to the College roof; various formal occasions on which the College Graces are sung (which works the Choir is always happy to perform upon receipt of food), and the annual Master’s Circle Dinner, at which the Choir both sings Evensong and performs a selection of lighter repertoire afterwards. The Director of Chapel Music is always delighted to hear from prospective members of the Choir, and from prospective Organ Scholars: there are two Organ Scholars in residence at any given time, who play for services and assist the Director of Chapel Music in the direction of the choir.