Watch a video summary of Vivamus at Hitchen Winter Festival 2024

On Saturday 30 November 2024, we made our way to Hitchin. For some, it was a quick hop from home, while others battled through rainy motorways and rail replacement buses to make the journey. Upon arriving at the magnificent St Mary’s Church in Hitchin, Vivamus singers were delighted to meet our talented collaborators.

As rehearsal progressed, it didn’t matter if we’d travelled near or far – we were now firmly in the same place, using our talents to make wonderful music together. We could all sense the concert would be something special.

Hundreds of people came to our performance, many of whom were new to such concerts. Once everyone was seated, tenor Graham Neal began with the first Advent Antiphon, his powerful and fluid voice punctuating the first half of the programme. In between, we sang Carter’s stirring arrangement of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, MacMillan’s dramatic O Radiant Dawn, and Farrington’s jovial Nova, Nova – we think we did a pretty good job of tossing our copies aside to clap and stamp our feet, if we do say so ourselves.

Plus, we sang Dove’s beautiful Seek Him that maketh the seven stars, and split into two choirs for Taverner’s A Hymn to the Mother of God, during which our voices soared and resonated in the church’s incredible setting. We were also pleased to perform two pieces by our very own Rufus Frowde, Adam Lay Ybounden and Gaudete in Domino semper. We’d never have guessed he only finalised the orchestral arrangement for the latter on the morning itself!

The second half brought us to the focal point of our programme, Britten’s Saint Nicolas. The nine movements tell the story of the saint’s life, from birth, through worship and imprisonment, miracles and proclamations, to his death. The music weaves in so many feelings: admiration, humour, glee, grief, peace. To convey the piece’s weight, all performers came together – including some seriously talented soloists from the Choir of Samuel Lucas JMI School. We also joined with the audience for two congregational hymns included as part of the piece, one of which encouraged us to “Sing… with cheerful voice”. In my view, there are few things more affecting than an entire church singing the final glorious “Amen” after a whirlwind narrative of intense musical drama and emotion.

At the concert’s close, whether we were off to dinner in Hitchin or squinting through the night to get home, it didn’t matter – after a high like that, everything feels like a blissful dream.

Huge thanks to St Mary’s Church for filming the following incredible footage:

We send our warmest thanks to everyone at Hitchin Winter Festival for letting us be a part of their programme, and we hope to return in future. For now, we are eagerly looking forward to our Christmas concert in central London on 12 December.

Post written by Swéta Rana.

Image from stephengg on Flickr.