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The Choir of Royal Holloway
Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 PM – 11:00 PM
As part of the Classical Music Alive 2025–26 season, The Choir of Royal Holloway presents From Darkness to Light, a reflective choral programme exploring night, silence and illumination.
Conducted by Rupert Gough with organist Daniel Ayers, the concert spans early sacred music through to contemporary choral writing.
The programme opens with music rooted in silence and contemplation, including Vytautas Miškinis’ Dum medium silentium and Richard Dering’s Factum est silentium. These are followed by Purcell’s intense Hear my prayer and Tallis’ radiant O nata lux, before moving into the reflective warmth of Rheinberger’s Abendlied.
Contemporary choral writing features strongly in the centre of the programme, with Eric Whitacre’s Sleep and I thank you God for this most amazing Day, alongside Florence Price’s An elf on a moonbeam and Daley’s grandmother moon. Ola Gjeilo’s Northern lights (Pulchra es) continues the theme of light emerging from darkness.
Later works include Holst’s Nunc Dimittis, movements from Tarney’s Lux Stellarum (Kyrie and Stars), and Jonathan Dove’s Seek him that maketh the seven stars. Organ music is represented by Langlais’ Dialogue sur les Mixtures from Suite Brève.
The programme concludes with a sequence of uplifting English choral favourites, including Parry’s Early one morning, You are the new day by David (arranged by Peter Knight), Finzi’s My spirit sang all day, and Wood’s Hail gladdening light.
A free pre-concert talk at 6.30pm offers additional insight into the programme.
