Sacred Music

This setting of a verse from Psalm 43 ('Send out your light and your truth; these themselves led me forth, and they brought me to your holy mountain and to your holy place') with a Gloria Patri was co...

This piece was commissioned by Merton College, Oxford for the Merton Choirbook, a collection of choral music composed to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the college in 2014. It is a setting of some...

This hymn of praise was composed on the occasion of a thanksgiving service for a betrothal in June 2011. In search of a suitable text, the composer once again turned to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Brow...

With text from the Book of Psalms, His heart's desire is a short motet for mixed voices, with homophonic outer sections with minimal divisi and a middle section dividing the chorus into two SATB group...

This work by Kim André Arnesen (one of Norway's most performed contemporary composers) was commissioned by the Athens Master Chorale, Georgia, USA for the 50th anniversary of their founder and conduct...

This work comes from the continuous amazement at the endless depth of love that the encounter with the Divine, our relationship with the Holy, gives us. The perseverance of this divine love, which is...

Sumptuous a cappella setting of a hymn to the Virgin Mary attributed to Poliziano (15th century). It was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, whose first perf...

Commissioned by the Cathedral Organists' Association [UK] in celebration of its centenary, and first performed at the Association's annual meeting in York Minster in May 2019. Text: Magnificat and Nun...

This sublime setting of the well-known Latin text is by one of the UK's brightest emerging choral composers, Rhiannon Randle. Yet her O nata lux is a personal reflection on the captivating and timeles...

A beautiful short setting of the ordinary of the Latin mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus & Benedictus, and Agnus Dei) by emerging Cornish composer Becky McGlade. The Kyrie finds beauty in its simplicity, w...

A contemplative and affecting setting of the opening two verses of Psalm 91, which tells of God's protection for those who follow Him, by Cornish composer Becky McGlade, one of the fine emerging voice...

A reflective setting of the one of the Marian antiphons (‘Hail, Queen of Heaven') by emerging composer Kerensa Briggs. A continuous, largely homophonic choral texture underpins the work, with rich har...

A tender shoot is a new setting of a 15th century German poem, poetized by Otto Goldschmidt and translated into English by William Bartholomew in the 19th century. The setting was commissioned by the...

In this contemporary setting of the traditional text Hodie Christus natus est, the piece begins in a hushed, exultant manner marking the news that 'today Christ was born'. The piece then slowly builds...

O magnum mysterium was written in 2013 and is dedicated to Dawn Herbert, the composer's ex-wife and the mother of his son, Reginald. It was written while staying at her family's farm in Cambridgeshire...

Composed in 2021 to commission for the Choir of Westminster Abbey and dedicated to Westminster Abbey Choir School. This is MacMillan's fourth mass setting for exclusively choral forces, following the...

This work was composed in 2020 and was commissioned by the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation for a Service of Thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of William Ce...

Composer’s note In Sancta Mater, the fifth movement of my Stabat Mater, we comfort not only Mother Mary but all parents who have lost their own child, and we cry and we pray with them. Musically, the...

Composer’s note This piece is an adaptation of the instrumental movement ‘Reflection’ in my large-scale work The Stranger. I was inspired by research showing the emotional effect of having eye contact...

Composer’s note Eja Mater is a prayer for comfort to all parents who have lost their own child but also expresses love from parents to their children. Originally written for choir and orchestra as par...

Of all the souls was written for and performed at the wedding of its composer and lyricist (Ed and Alice Newton-Rex) in 2016. The profound and vow-like text encapsulates the essence of a fulfilled sea...

A setting of verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 57 ('My heart, O God, is steadfast. I will sing and make music. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.') this work celebrates music's impor...

Commissioned by the Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge, for the first ever BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong broadcast from the college, this introit or short motet was written to commemorate the occasion...

Short motet commissioned by St Dominic’s Sixth Form College, Harrow-on-the-Hill, UK, to celebrate its 40th anniversary. MacMillan chose a text which is entirely appropriate to young people about to be...

Inspired by and incorporating the plainsong melody, this exquisite new choral work by Kerensa Briggs breathes new life into the cherished Latin text 'Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est' ('Where charity...