Name: The Deer’s Cry: Tanglewood Festival
Start: 2025-08-14T20:00:00
Location: Tanglewood Music Center

Step into a world where music transcends time and space with The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage 2025: Angel of Peace, a harmonious tour de force that blends the ancient with the modern. This remarkable series spans multiple venues across the UK and Europe, featuring works by medieval abbess Hildegard of Bingen and contemporary composer Anna Clyne. Join conductor Harry Christophers, violinist Sarah Sexton, and the acclaimed ensemble as they explore peace through music. Complementing this pilgrimage is the Sounds Sublime series, a vibrant celebration of youth and family choirs, offering workshops and performances to inspire and uplift all ages.

Harmony Through Time: A Journey with The Sixteen

2025 promises a rich tapestry of choral experiences, blending historical reverence with contemporary innovation. From The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage: Angel of Peace, offering a serene journey through centuries of music, to Tanglewood Festival's exploration of sacred works by Byrd and Pärt, audiences will immerse in diverse artistic expressions. Workshops and recitals at venues like Chichester Cathedral and Tanglewood Music Center further enrich these events, spotlighting both celebrated compositions and new contributions by artists like Anna Clyne.

2025's Choral Highlights: Celebrating Peace, Tradition, and Innovation

Harry Christophers

The Sixteen

Spain’s Siglo de Oro, the Age of Gold, gave rise to some of the greatest sacred choral music of the Renaissance. We devote our latest Choral Pilgrimage to pieces by two outstanding Spanish composers, exploring majestic works by Cristóbal de Morales, famed throughout Europe and in the New World, and the exquisite polyphony of Sebastián de Vivánco, whose intricately crafted counterpoint adorned services at the cathedrals of Ávila and Salamanca during the late 1500s.

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Southwell

Southwell Minster

Derby Cathedral

Spain’s Siglo de Oro, the Age of Gold, gave rise to some of the greatest sacred choral music of the Renaissance. We devote our latest Choral Pilgrimage to pieces by two outstanding Spanish composers, exploring majestic works by Cristóbal de Morales, famed throughout Europe and in the New World, and the exquisite polyphony of Sebastián de Vivánco, whose intricately crafted counterpoint adorned services at the cathedrals of Ávila and Salamanca during the late 1500s.

Our programme also features spellbinding settings of words by Saint John Henry Newman: Sir James MacMillan’s Nothing in Vain for soloists and double choir and the world premiere of Kerensa Briggs’ Lead, Kindly Light, specially commissioned for the Choral Pilgrimage.

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Peterborough

Peterborough Cathedral

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Liverpool

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Blackburn

Blackburn Cathedral

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Cambridge

Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: London

Old Royal Naval College

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Newbury

Douai Abbey

When Sir James MacMillan writes a new choral work, the world takes notice, because few living composers write with more honesty and passion. With a span of around an hour, Angels Unawares is a major new statement from MacMillan coupled with a brilliant libretto written by Robert Willis, former Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, completed shortly before his untimely death in autumn 2024. Who better to give the work’s UK premiere than The Sixteen and the Britten Sinfonia, both tireless champions of MacMillan’s work?

Angels Unawares: London

Cadogan Hall 

When Sir James MacMillan writes a new choral work, the world takes notice, because few living composers write with more honesty and passion. With a span of around an hour, Angels Unawares is a major new statement from MacMillan coupled with a brilliant libretto written by Robert Willis, former Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, completed shortly before his untimely death in autumn 2024. Who better to give the work’s UK premiere than The Sixteen and the Britten Sinfonia, both tireless champions of MacMillan’s work?

Angels Unawares is commissioned and supported by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen.

The richly sensual choral music of Renaissance master Orlande de Lassus provides a stunning centrepiece. Music that speaks of love earthly and divine, his motets, masses and madrigals were written over 300 years ago. But they still have the immediacy and intricacy to resonate with us today, especially when heard in the lofty surrounds of stunning chapels, churches and cathedrals.

Daringly designed and stitched in fine detail, they are in fact tailored from scraps of other music, whether Lassus’ own, the music of his revered predecessor Josquin or the monochrome beauty of plainchant.

Masters of Imitation: Stockholm

Tyska kyrkan, Stockholm

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Rochester

Rochester Cathedral

The Choral Pilgrimage 2026: Exeter

Exeter Cathedral

Whilst coming from very different eras, William Byrd and Arvo Pärt are both considered masters of sacred music despite having faced considerable persecution for their work. As part of  the 2025 Tanglewood Festival, this programme presents six of William Byrd’s works from the Cantiones Sacrae including the monumental Tribue, Domine, and the mighty eight-voice motet Ad Dominum cum tribularer. The three works by Arvo Pärt speak in his unmistakable voice, with its unique blend of ancient and modern, and include his mesmerising Nunc dimittis which is crafted in his bell-like ‘tinitinnabuli’ style.

The Deer’s Cry: Tanglewood Festival

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