The final weeks of 2025 brought a choral close to the year for the British Sinfonietta, with a series of concerts celebrating the power of voices, sacred spaces, and some of the repertoire’s most enduring works.
The run began on Saturday 29 November at St John’s Church, with a performance of Saint Nicolas by Benjamin Britten. We were joined by Woking Choral Society, under the baton of Cole Bendall, for a dramatic and uplifting start to the festive season.
A particularly busy Saturday 6 December saw us perform in London, where the orchestra appeared at St Michael and All Angels, presenting choral works by Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with West London Chorus, conducted by Hilary Campbell, as well as in West Wales for a performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah at St Davids Cathedral, alongside Côr Dyfed Choir, conducted by Luke Spencer, with soprano soloist Holly Teague.
The Christmas celebrations continued on Saturday 20 December at Bristol Beacon, where the orchestra returned to Messiah with Bristol Choral Society, again under the direction of Hilary Campbell. The festive run concluded the following evening, Sunday 21 December, at Brangwyn Hall, with a further performance of Messiah featuring Swansea Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Jonathan Rogers. Together, these concerts formed a trio of Messiah performances presented by the British Sinfonietta over the Christmas period.
The orchestra now looks ahead to 2026, which begins on 17 January with an all-Bach programme at Llandaff Cathedral, in collaboration with Cardiff Bach Choir, conducted by Stephen Moore.