Tuesday 29 September 2026
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
The Sixteen bring peace and stillness to the opening concert of the Bridgewater Hall’s 30th International Concert Series
★★★★
Harry Christophers and his chamber choir The Sixteen first performed at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in February 1998, eighteen months after the Hall opened. Last night’s concert was the first in the Hall’s thirtieth International Concert Series, part of the celebrations of the Hall’s thirtieth anniversary. The choir most recently appeared in the International Concert Series in 2024, performing Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610.
Last night’s concert was billed as Angel of Peace, the name of the Sixteen’s 2025 Choral Pilgrimage tour. It draws its title from a new piece by the composer Will Todd, set to words by Cardinal Newman, the author of the poem The Dream of Gerontius, set to music by Edward Elgar. The choir was joined by violinist Lizzy Ball, representing, in Todd’s words, ‘the spirit of God.’
The concert’s theme was peace, hope and acceptance, with music selected from across 800 years, from the 12th century abbess Hildegard of Bingen to Will Todd and Anna Clyne from this century. It was designed as a continuous narrative, and what was fascinating about the programme was how pieces from different eras spoke to each other, and how new and old illuminated each other.
It began with the first part of Hildegard’s Ave, generosa (Hail, high-born lady), a celebration of the Virgin Mary. Mezzo Elisabeth Paul sang the solo part with a lovely, creamy voice with light vibrato. Other voices and Lizzy Ball’s violin created a drone. The timeless plainsong led to another timeless piece, Arvo Pärt’s Tribute to Caesar, a meditation on Jesus’ comment, ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’ from St Matthew’s Gospel. This included vocal drones, linking it to the previous piece. Pärt’s harmonies were simple, gently discordant, creating a sense of stillness that recalled T.S. Eliot’s phrase, ‘at the still point of the turning world.’
Todd’s Angel of Peace began with solo violin playing a plaintive rising figure, again accompanied by vocal drones. The audience sat spellbound as the piece gradually transitioned from darkness to light, as spectral violin harmonics magically crept in again on the words ‘let me be an angel of peace.’ The final piece of the first half, Gaude plurimum (Rejoice exceedingly) by the 16th century composer John Taverner, sounded florid compared to the Todd piece. The choir spun the work’s polyphonic vocal lines beautifully to create a compelling, complex whole, like the intricate fan vault ceiling of the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, which was also created in the 16th century. All sections of the choir shone equally, as the Hall’s superb acoustics elicited all the detail of the individual lines while adding a gorgeous bloom to the sound.
The Taverner piece also contrasted with the simplicity of the second part of Hildegard’s Ave, generosa, which segued into Pärt’s Da pacem Domine (Give peace, O Lord). Pärt’s piece was built on much simpler material than Tavener’s, with the voices joining in simple patterns rather than complex polyphony. The choir performed it superbly, as did the other Pärt pieces in the concert, including the Magnificat, with its limpid textures and monumental feel, as if carved out of rock.
Between the two Pärt works, Anna Clyne’s Orbits offered a complete contrast. By far the liveliest piece of the evening, it was commissioned by The Sixteen to match Todd’s piece, and used the same line-up of choir and solo violin. Here, the violin part was almost folky, while also echoing the plainsong melodies of Hildegard. The complex rhythms and syncopations, circling round joyful themes, demanded and received a virtuosic performance. The concert ended with more polyphony from Taverner, his O splendor gloriae (O glorious light). In his illuminating programme note, Andrew Mellor argued that in this work the composer (assuming it was Taverner and not his colleague Christopher Tye who wrote it) toned down his florid style in reaction to the more austere style demanded after the Reformation. The choir’s performance was beautifully balanced, more subdued than in the previous Taverner piece, with simpler architecture, voices subtly dancing, ending on a lovely, melismatic ‘Amen.’
It’s always a pleasure to hear The Sixteen, expertly steered for nearly 50 years by Harry Christophers, who founded the choir in 1979. I first heard them in 1990 at a late-night Prom, singing Poulenc’s remarkable Figure Humaine. I have followed them ever since, and was lucky enough to work with the charming Harry Christophers a few times when I was at Radio 3. As the choir has become a pivotal part of the English choral tradition, it’s entirely appropriate that they opened the Bridgewater Hall’s 30th International Concert Season.
Performers
Harry Christophers conductor
Lizzie Ball violin
Repertoire
Hildegard of Bingen Ave, generosa (verses 1-4)
Arvo Pärt Tribute to Caesar
Will Todd I shall be an angel of peace
John Taverner Gaude plurimum
Hildegard of Bingen Ave, generosa (verses 5-7)
Arvo Pärt Da pacem Domine
Anna Clyne Orbits
Arvo Pärt Magnificat
John Taverner O splendor gloriae
The Sixteen’s Angel of Peace recording is available on the choir’s Coro label
Now read on…
The Sixteen perform in the International Concert Series in 2024
The Hallé celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Bridgewater Hall