Ruby Hughes & Jonas Nordberg

Ruby Hughes and lutenist Jonas Nordberg play at the National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret's Church on Sunday 13 December. It's part of the York Early Music Christmas Festival, which runs from Friday 4 to Sunday 13 December across the city. The festival was set up in 1997 to bring together music for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the Medieval to the Baroque, and it's run by the York Early Music Foundation, a registered charity.

Hughes is a British soprano of Welsh heritage and a former BBC New Generation Artist. She's built a reputation as one of the key singers of the early 21st century, known for a warm, soft voice and for her ability to move from an almost toneless sotto voce to a rich, full sound. She's more than just a singer, too — she's a cellist, dancer and actor. In 2009, she took both the First and Audience Prizes at London's Handel Singing Competition, and she holds a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. In 2014, she was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award.

Her career has taken her to some of the biggest stages in the classical world. She's sung at Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall and the BBC Proms, and has appeared on opera stages including English National Opera, Garsington Opera and Scottish Opera. This concert pairs her with Jonas Nordberg, a lutenist who'll be providing the accompaniment for the afternoon. Together they'll be performing Renaissance music, so expect a programme of early songs and instrumental pieces from that era.

The concert falls on the final day of the festival, Sunday 13 December, at St Margaret's Church, which is the National Centre for Early Music. It's a Renaissance-focused afternoon with Hughes on vocals and Nordberg on the lute.