Benjamin Nicholas and the Choir of Merton College, Oxford mark the fiftieth anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death with a programme built round his celebrated Christmas masterpieces, A boy was born (in which they are joined by the college’s girls’ choir) and A Ceremony of Carols, and trace his remarkable development from the precocious schoolboy composer of A Hymn to the Virginto one of the defining musical voices of twentieth-century Britain.
Their performances illuminate Britten’s extraordinary gift for writing for young singers alongside his instinctive understanding of the English choral tradition, bringing out the qualities of a composer whose technical brilliance is matched by emotional immediacy in music that is enduringly rewarding for performers and listeners alike.







