December was a month happily dominated by several splendid concerts. Here are photos of three of the best. On December 7th, Ex Cathedra (whom we are pleased to support) sang a lively and stylish complete Bach Christmas Oratorio in Birmingham Town Hall.
Only a few days later, on the 10th, we were back in Birmingham, this time at Symphony Hall, for the CBSO on typically cracking form in a programme of Richard Strauss, with two of his most famous tone-poems framing his lovely Oboe Concerto.
At much the same time, Ex Cathedra embarked on its numerous concerts of Christmas music, of which we attended that held in the spacious church of St James the Greater in Leicester. Typical of Jeffrey Skidmore, who founded the choir in 1969 and retires in 2027 (what an innings!) the programme was novel, unusual, musically and historically varied, and used the whole building imaginatively.