Ex Cathedra: Britten at Christmas

Ex Cathedra are playing the Town Hall on Saturday 5 December, joining forces with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for an afternoon of Benjamin Britten. It's a big one: the two ensembles are coming together to mark the 50th anniversary of Britten's death, and they've picked three of his festive works to do it with.

The programme runs through a good chunk of his Christmas output. There's A Boy was born in Bethlehem, which he wrote when he was only 19; A Ceremony of Carols, the well-known one for upper voices and harp; and Saint Nicolas, which is more of a storytelling piece. Between them, they cover the early, precocious Britten and the more established composer, all within the same afternoon.

On stage, Jeffrey Skidmore conducts, with tenor Sebastian Hill and harpist Katherine Thomas. The vocal side is a combined effort: the Ex Cathedra Choir, the Ex Cathedra Academy of Vocal Music, and the CBSO. It's a lot of voices in the room, and the whole thing runs about two hours and ten minutes, including the interval.

The concert is part of the CBSO's 2026-27 season under Music Director Kazuki Yamada, a season they've built around major symphonic journeys, new commissions and cross-genre collaborations. This fits right in—two of the city's big musical names sharing a stage for a single composer. It starts at 3:00pm at the Town Hall, and tickets are £22 to £48.50.