Rejoice! Festive Music for the Festive Season (Plymouth)

In Rejoice! PFC will present two very different sets of carols, both arranged for organ and orchestra. Alice Parker’s joyous Seven Carols for Christmas, commissioned by the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1970, includes relatively familiar material, while Shawn Kirchner’s exuberant Behold New Joy: Ancient Carols for Christmas (2011) uses Latin carols from the Piae Cantiones of 1582.

In addition, the concert centerpiece will be Vivaldi’s lesser known (but equally engaging) setting of Gloria in Excelsis Deo, composed around 1715.