We are pleased and excited to be holding our Christmas 2025 concert back in The Great Hall at Barts North Wing following the two-year restoration programme.
Come and see the Hogarth paintings, join in with audience carols and start your festive season in an astounding venue. And with the proceeds from our concerts and events going to Barts Cancer Unit, you help us to continue making a difference for patients, their families and staff.
Wishing you the best for the Season, we hope to see you there!
From all at Barts Academic Festival Choir & Orchestra
Nearest Transport
Train – City Thameslink (Holborn Viaduct) Tube – St Paul’s, Barbican, Farringdon Bus – 8, 25, 46, 56, 59, 133
Thanks to all the musicians and singers on Monday night at our Dvorak Autumn Concert. And to our helpers for organising and serving refreshments at our penultimate event in the National Musicians’ Church.
We have appreciated the incredible support and friendship of Holy Sepulchre during the closure of the Great Hall at Barts. Last season, we raised £2,000 for the Cancer Unit at Barts – to be used for improving facilities for patients and staff. We also donated to Holy Sepulchre from our Come & Sing events.
Thank you all for your continued support and donations, we know it will make a difference to the Cancer Unit.
Come and sing… No need to book – listeners welcome too!
We continue this term preparing for our next event, an instant performance of MozartRequiem, FauréRequiem and Haydn NelsonMass – favourites and well-known repertoire for seasoned singers.
Join us on Saturday 22nd November at Holy Sepulchre, find your voice section and take a seat.
Baton down at 2 pm, when we will be joined by soloists and the orchestra. Refreshment will be available during the breaks and the afternoon’s event is expected to finish by 5 pm.
Entry is free! Donations to Barts Cancer Unit and Holy Sepulchre are welcome (cash only).
Venue
Holy Sepulchre, Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2DQ
Nearest public transport
Train – City Thameslink (Holborn Viaduct) Tube – St Paul’s, Barbican, Farringdon Bus – 8, 25, 46, 56, 59, 133
Do send a message via our Contact Us page if you have any queries.
Thank you to everyone involved in our Summer Concert, it was a delightful evening.
After a summer break, rehearsals begin again on Friday 5th September when we’ll continue rehearsing Dvorak’s Mass in D major for our Autumn Concert, joined by the orchestra playing Dvorak’s Symphony No 6.
In November, there will be a ‘Come & Sing‘ event of Mozart Requiem, Fauré Requiem & Haydn Nelson Mass, following which we’ll be preparing for our Christmas Concert.
Enjoy Singing?
Join our choir, a small Barts choir with orchestra
Thank you to those who joined us for our Opera Day, with special thanks to our soloists.
We are working on our next concert, an evening of music by Haydn and CPE Bach. Haydn’s Symphony No 85 is also known as ‘The Queen’, it being a favourite of Marie Antoinette.
This will be followed by CPE Bach’s Magnificat, a musical setting of the biblical text from the Gospel of St Luke. Though a song of praise by Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in this composition one cannot help but feel that it is also an homage to Bach’s father, Johann Sebastian…
Our concerts are currently hosted at ‘The Musicians’ Church’ – Holy Sepulchre Church, Holborn Viaduct – opposite the Old Bailey, around the corner from Barts Hospital.
Do join us for a musical evening at Holy Sepulchre on Monday 9th July. All ticket proceeds are donated to Barts Cancer Unit towards that something extra for patients and staff.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Joanna Forbes L’Estrange for attending our Easter Concert to hear us perform her new work, A Season to Sing – a re-imagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Having Joanna in the audience and engaging in conversation with her was a truly wonderful experience.
After a well-deserved break, choir rehearsals commence on Friday 9th May at 7 pm in Barts-the-Less Church in preparation for our Opera Day taking place on Saturday 10th May of Verdi’s Il Trovadore, 2-5 pm at Holy Sepulchre Church on Holborn Viaduct.
And starting on Friday 16th May, the choir will be rehearsing CPE Bach’s Magnificat for soloists, choir and chamber orchestra, to be performed as part of our Summer Concert.
SAVE THE DATE
Friday 9th May – rehearsal of Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Saturday 10th May – Opera Performance Day, 2-5 pm at Holy Sepulchre
Friday 16th May – start rehearsing CPE Bach’s Magnificat
Monday 7th July – Summer Concert, 7.30 pm at Holy Sepulchre
Our Easter Concert at Holy Sepulchre, the National Musicians’ Church, starts with Brahms Symphony No 2 in D major, orchestrated for flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani and strings.
After the interval, the evening will continue with the newly co-commissioned work by British vocalist & composer, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange. Based on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, we are pleased to be one of the 53 choirs from around the world to premiere this exciting repertoire.
Barts Academic Festival Choir & Orchestra 
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