A Choral Christmas VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra, VOCES8 & Barnaby Smith

• George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759): Joy to the World:
• 1 Handel: Joy to the World (Arr. Taylor Scott Davis) 04:16
• William J. Kirkpatrick (1838 - 1921): Away in a Manger:
• 2 Kirkpatrick: Away in a Manger (Arr. Taylor Scott Davis) 04:03
• Bob Chilcott (b. 1955): The Sleeping Child:
• 3 Chilcott: The Sleeping Child 03:25
• John Francis Wade (1711 - 1786): O Come, All Ye Faithful:
• 4 Wade: O Come, All Ye Faithful (Arr. Taylor Scott Davis) 05:08
• Taylor Scott Davis (b. 1980): Magnificat:
• 5 Davis: Magnificat: I. Magnificat anima mea (Version for Full Orchestra) 05:39
• 6 Davis: Magnificat: II. Shall I Rejoice (Version for Full Orchestra) 05:48
• 7 Davis: Magnificat: III. Et misericordia (Version for Full Orchestra) 06:55
• 8 Davis: Magnificat: IV. Deposuit (Version for Full Orchestra) 03:04
• 9 Davis: Magnificat: V. Gloria Patri (Version for Full Orchestra) 06:30
• Traditional: O Come, O Come Emmanuel:
• 10 Traditional: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Arr. Taylor Scott Davis) 04:52
• Franz Xaver Gruber (1787 - 1863): Silent Night:
• 11 Gruber: Silent Night (Arr. Taylor Scott Davis) 06:49
• Traditional: In dulci jubilo:
• 12 Traditional: In dulci jubilo (Arr. Pearsall) 03:19
• Traditional: Gabriel's Message:
• 13 Traditional: Gabriel's Message (Arr. Clements) 04:10
• Thomas Hewitt Jones (b. 1984): A Christmas Cracker:
• 14 Hewitt Jones: A Christmas Cracker 03:38
• Leroy Anderson (1908 - 1975): Sleigh Ride:
• 15 Anderson: Sleigh Ride 03:10
• Total Runtime 01:10:46

Info for A Choral Christmas

VOCES8, the internationally acclaimed British vocal ensemble, is pleased to announce the release of their new album, ‘A Choral Christmas’ out on November 3rd via Decca Classics and showcasing a joyful, cinematic soundscape-packed hamper of choral and orchestral treats. A Christmas musical extravaganza filled with sparkling, cinematic new arrangements of favourite carols from US composer Taylor Scott Davis. Featuring several world premiere recordings of brand new works and arrangements, including the centrepiece of the album, a major new work for choir and orchestra, Taylor Scott Davis’s dazzling setting of the Magnificat, originally commissioned for VOCES8’s LIVE From London festival. Also includes a serene and intimate new a cappella carol The Sleeping Child from British composer Bob Chilcott written especially for VOCES8. Largest scale recording of VOCES8 to date – featuring the VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra for the first time, instrumental soloists and conducted by VOCES8’s co-founder and countertenor Barnaby Smith.

Andrea Haines, soprano
Christopher Moore, baritone
Jonathan Pacey, bass
Euan Williamson, tenor
Blake Morgan, tenor
Barnaby Smith, alto
Katie Jeffries-Harris, alto
Molly Noon, soprano
VOCES8 Foundation Choir and Orchestra
Barnaby Smith, direction

Jocelyn Hagen
composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). She is a pioneer in the field of composition, pushing the expectations of musicians and audiences with large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, and opera. Her melodic music is rhythmically driven and texturally complex, rich in color and deeply heartfelt. A champion of the female spirit, many of her projects focus on the stories of women. She is a co-founder of Graphite Publishing and the band Nation, singing her heart out every chance she gets.

Timothy C. Takach
Inspired by narrative, magical realism, speculative fiction and making better humans through art, the music of Timothy C. Takach is a mainstay in the concert world. Applauded for his melodic lines, text choices and rich, intriguing harmonies, his compositions are performed worldwide. He is a co-founder of Cantus, Graphite Publishing and Nation, and he is a co-creator of the theatrical production All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914. Takach has frequent work as a composer-in-residence, presenter, conductor, clinician and lecturer.

The VOCES8 Foundation Choir
“warm and as ever pitch-perfect” (5★ BBC Music Magazine) is a group of professional chamber singers with a silky yet punchy sound, sublime blend and the precision and agility of its namesake, VOCES8. Its members are connected to the Foundation through VOCES8, Apollo5, Lyyra, its Scholars or the LIVE From London online concert series. Under Artistic Director and conductor Barnaby Smith’s guidance, the ensemble has performed both a cappella and orchestral repertoire by Bach, Byrd, Handel, Weelkes, Haydn, Mozart, Harris, Walton and Vaughan Williams, and recorded and filmed new commission premieres by Mårten Jansson, Christopher Tin, Paul Smith and Taylor Scott Davis. It has worked with the Philharmonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Foundation’s own Orchestra.

The VOCES8 Foundation Orchestra
is made up of London’s finest orchestral players and a staggering line-up of chamber musicians and soloists who gather to support the charitable and educational ethos of the Foundation. Under Barnaby Smith’s direction, the orchestra’s sound is both mesmerically precise and lushly expansive.

The Foundation Choir and Orchestra’s first album release on VOCES8 Records was Mårten Jansson’s Requiem Novum with the Philharmonia. Their 2023 Decca Classics Christmas album, ‘A Choral Christmas’, featured the choir singing “sparkling, roof-raising arrangements of the classics that really impress” (5★BBC Music Magazine) and the world premiere recording of Taylor Scott Davis’s Magnificat, both of which were first premiered in LIVE From London. Last year the album ‘To Sing of Love’ was released, featuring To Sing of Love: a Triptych, a new concerto for violin, choir & orchestra written for Jack Liebeck and the VOCES8 Foundation Choir by Taylor Scott Davis, and new choral orchestrations of works by composers including Ralph Vaughan Williams (The Lark Ascending), Benjamin Britten (Rejoice in the Lamb) and Eric Whitacre (Sleep).

Barnaby Smith
Grammy-nominated, Barnaby Smith is Artistic Director of the internationally renowned vocal ensemble VOCES8, LIVE From London digital festivals, and the UK and US arms of The VOCES8 Foundation including its ensembles (Apollo5, Lyyra, The VOCES8 Foundation Choir), its Digital Academy and Milton Abbey International Festival and Summer School. Barnaby is in demand as a conductor, presenter, filmmaker, educator, countertenor and arranger.

Amongst a busy touring schedule with VOCES8 and ensembles around the world, recent projects have included Barnaby’s debuts conducting: Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams and Tin which was awarded 5* by ArtsHub: “The Lost Birds conducted with abundant energy and great detail”; Nederlandse ReisOpera in Handel Messiah; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem; the English Chamber Orchestra in Bach, Barber, Elgar and Faure; directing Jack Liebeck and VOCES8 in a new programme at a sold-out Sydney Opera House; directing and soloing in Bach Cantatas for Inon Barnatan’s La Jolla Summerfest; directing two solo-recordings Handel & Bach with the Illyria Consort, of which Gramophone notes that there is “no denying the refined beauty and sheer skill of Smith’s performance” as well as producing and presenting the LIVE From London Festival. With VOCES8 collaborations with Eric Whitacre and Paul Simon resulted in two new albums – Home (reaching No.1 in the Classical Album chart and awarded a BBC Music Magazine Choral and Song Choice) and Seven Psalms (which garnered wide- ranging 5-star reviews and high praise from Rolling Stone magazine).

This album contains no booklet.