Leeds Male Voice Choir are celebrating Christmas in style this year as they round off a year of celebrations! The one hundred year old choir will perform The Spirit of Christmas, a popular extravaganza of festive favourites, Christmas songs and popular carols on Saturday 10 December at Leeds Cathedral.
Now in its third year The Spirit of Christmas will feature a host of popular Christmas songs and carols from around the world, with special guests the Heritage Masterworks Chorale, who have recently returned from a successful tour of Venice.
The Spirit of Christmas comes at the end of a historic year for the sixty man choir, who are celebrating their centenary year and have recently performed to an audience in excess of seven hundred in Leeds Town Hall.
Tim Knight, the creative force behind Leeds Male Voice Choir says “Our one hundredth year has been a showcase for Leeds Male Voice Choir and a testament to the men’s hard work over the last few years. We diverged from the traditional male voice choir repertoire some years ago and strive to present the best music from around the world – drawing on influences from North America, the Baltic and Scandinavia and mixing with the very best music from home.”
The choir is always keen to continue this theme at Christmas, mixing less familiar festive pieces from Canada, Slovakia and Austria alongside popular festive songs and traditional carols including We Need a Little Christmas, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, The Twelve Days of Christmas, White Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Formed in 1916 in Middleton Broom Colliery in South Leeds, the choir will undertake its first international tour in more than thirty years in May 2017, when the sixty strong choir travel to Bruges in Belgium. As the year closes, local exhibition photographer Tom Poultney will profile the choir and its hundred year history in Leeds City Museum from the middle of this month.
The Spirit of Christmas is set to be a fun filled affair for the whole family with free entry for children, Tim says “Christmas is always a favourite time of the year for Leeds Male Voice Choir and a time to celebrate as we celebrate the end of our centenary year. It’s going to be a fine and fun filled festive evening for the whole family at Leeds Cathedral!”
The Spirit of Christmas takes place on Saturday 10 December at Leeds Cathedral, Great George Street in Leeds at 19:45 and tickets are available via www.leedsmalevoicechoir.co.uk or by telephoning 0113 243 1605
