The Gabrieli Consort will in coming weeks welcome 4000 young singers to perform alongside them as part of their most ambitious training and outreach project yet. The children, drawn from 85 English schools and youth choirs of singers aged 9-18, will perform alongside the ensemble for eight Christmas concerts in British cathedrals as they celebrate the polychoral music of Michael Praetorius, as the 300th anniversary of his death was marked last year.

Part of the consort’s training and outreach programme, Gabrieli Roar, the ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ Christmas concerts will be the programme’s most ambitious project to date, taking place across Westminster, Portsmouth, Peterborough, Ely, Canterbury and Coventry Cathedrals as well as York and Hull Minsters, from November to January.

Gabrieli Roar was launched to inspire English school and youth choirs, helping young people from many backgrounds to develop a love of choral music and break down barriers to access of classical music performance.

The Gabrieli Consort, founded in 1982, has achieved renown in the performance and recording of Renaissance and Baroque music. Their own recording of Praetorius’ Christmas mass remains the group’s best-selling album, described by Gramophone’s Jonathan Freeman-Atwood as ‘a major achievement... convincing and absorbing for the way in which they enrich our perception of an extraordinary musical tradition’

Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Roar Founder and Artistic Director said of the Gabrieli Roar programme: ‘Our young singers talk excitedly about the joy of taking part in Roar and the performances are absolutely thrilling to witness, as young people experience the joy of performing great music, often for the first time...’

The concerts will combine early Baroque with the Christmas music of English 20^th century composers Herbert Howells, Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose own 150th anniversary was celebrated this year. 

For more information about the concerts, click here