Lucis Choir and BRLSI Celebrate Anniversary with Christmas Gala Concert in Bath Abbey

BATH, UK. November 12th, 2024 - Bath-based Lucis Choir are concluding their 10th anniversary season by hosting a celebration Gala Concert in Bath Abbey on Tuesday 17th December. This unique Christmas event is in partnership with the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) as part of their bicentenary year calendar of events.

 

The concert features a unique selection of Christmas festive music performed by some of Bath’s finest musicians, and a world premiere, Lux Aeterna, written for Lucis by their patron Will Todd, marking their 10th anniversary year. The programme will also include music from Noctis Chamber Choir, Bath Celebration Choir, The Alley Barbers, Cavacante and the Bristol Ensemble.

 

The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution has celebrated its bicentenary this year with 12 months of festivals, talks and events commemorating 200 years of keeping art, literary and scientific thought at the centre of Bath’s civic life. A special arrangement of O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree) which was composed in 1824, the year BRLSI was founded, has been written by Lucis’ musical director, Francis Faux, to mark the occasion. 

 

“This programme has been curated to represent the very essence of what Lucis set out to be almost a decade ago, namely a choir that offers its concertgoers something a bit different from the norm” said Lucis Founder and Musical Director Francis Faux. “Over the years, we have had the privilege of collaborating with some of the world’s leading choral composers, soloists and ensembles, including patron Will Todd, Christopher Tin, Matthew Coleridge, Bernard Hughes, Sir Karl Jenkins, Dame Emma Kirkby, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Southern Sinfonia, Lochrian Ensemble, Maxim Calver, Ola Gjeilo, Bob Chilcott, Ēriks Ešenvalds and Eric Whitacre, as well as championing young talent closer to home.”

 

“The Institution came into being in early 1824 and held its inaugural lecture in January 1825” said Professor Ian Gadd, Chair of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. “We’re both delighted to share anniversary celebrations with LUCIS and delighted to see out 2024 with such a special event.”

 

“This is a very exciting collaboration, with such a rich range of music,” said BRLSI Music convenor and the concert’s joint Musical Director, Tim Snowden. “The Bath Celebration Choir is delighted to be taking part, celebrating its 5th anniversary this year; and I’m particularly excited that the combined choirs will perform my setting of ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter,’ written for last year’s Carols by Candlelight at BRLSI. Audiences are also in for a treat with a performance from the University of Bath’s student barbershop ensemble – ‘The Alley Barbers’ – and if that weren’t enough, some traditional Brazilian Choro music from local instrumental group ‘Cavacante.’ It promises to be a fabulous evening.”

 

The full programme details and tickets available at the Bath Box Office https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/whats-on/anniversary-gala-concert-for-christmas

 
About Lucis Choir

Directed by Francis Faux, LUCIS, was founded in 2014 by uniting two previous choirs called Corsham Coral and Organum and naming it Lucis, which is Latin for Light. Since its inception, the choir has toured in Czech Republic and United States and has performed in a number of prestigious concert venues, such as Carnegie Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wiltshire Music Centre, St George’s Bristol, Bristol Cathedral and Bath Abbey.
Lucischoir.com

About Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI)

 

The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution is a cultural hub and educational charity based in the centre of Bath at Queen Square. The Institution runs a programme of more than 150 public lectures each year, both virtual and in-house on topics including science, philosophy, art, and literature. It is custodian of over 150,000 historic and scientific objects, ranging from photographs of Bath from the 1850s to a 4.2-billion-year-old meteorite, and 9,000 historic books and manuscripts, including a first edition of Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’. The Institution’s Jenyns Room is one of the city’s leading gallery spaces with a year-round programme of art and museum exhibitions.