Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble and The York Waits

Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble and The York Waits are joining forces at the National Centre for Early Music on Friday 11 December, part of the York Early Music Christmas Festival. It's a local pairing: both ensembles are based here in York, and they're coming together for a night of Christmas music from Renaissance Rome.

The programme balances the grand with the intimate. Two Christmas masses frame the evening: Arcadelt's Missa Noe Noe and Palestrina's Missa Hodie Christus natus est. In between, there are motets by de Silva and Victoria, alongside lullabies and instrumental pieces. It's that mix of large-scale sacred polyphony and traditional Italian seasonal songs that gives the night its shape, moving from the high church sound of the masses to the smaller, more domestic feel of the songs and lullabies.

Both groups are regulars on the city's early music scene, and this is one of the many concerts that make up the York Early Music Christmas Festival. The festival was started in 1997 to bring together music associated with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the Medieval to the Baroque, and it's run by The York Early Music Foundation, a registered charity. This particular bill focuses on Rome in the Renaissance, so the whole evening stays within that particular time and place.

The concert runs from 6.30pm to around 7.45pm at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret's Church, Walmgate, YO1 9TL. Reserved seating is £35, with a concession of £33; under 35s pay £10, which includes mince pies on arrival.