James MacMillan’s Seven Angels

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Saturday 7 November at 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol

Exultate Singers reveals visions of heaven in this Remembrance weekend concert. A tapestry of works in the first half includes transcendent works by James MacMillan and William Harris and Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei, his own arrangement of his Adagio for Strings. The choir also performs Ian Carpenter’s radiant setting of In Paradisum and John Rutter’s anthem Hymn to the Creator of Light, an homage to Herbert Howells, full of mystical intensity, which with its iridescent chromatic harmonies is reminiscent of Howells’ own music.

For the second half, the choir is joined by trumpets, shofars, percussion, harp and cello to perform James MacMillan’s extraordinary new work Seven Angels, a setting of vivid and intensely dramatic text from the Book of Revelation. Commissioned by Ex Cathedra, it was premiered in Birmingham in January 2015.

Tickets £12 to £24, students in full time education £6, under 18s £4, from Exultate Singers’ website or by phone on 0845 40 24 001