The Sixteen
CADOGAN HALL, LONDON (AND TOURING)

When the choir of The Sixteen sings Bach, it is like switching on electricity. From a standing start, suddenly they are in the middle of flowing counterpoint: perfectly synchronised parts enter with imperceptible attack as the current picks up where it left off, usually two nights previously.

Few choirs perform as many concerts in a year. Touring almost constantly, they attune their skill to shifting environments either on their annual nine-month pilgrimage around British cathedrals or on this Bach Magnificat mini-tour which sees them electrifying Bath, Chichester, Worcester and Rochester over the coming week with Harry Christophers ever at the helm.

They have an orchestra with them, as the Magnificat is an accompanied work from the first Christmas of Bach’s appointment as Cantor of Leipzig when a major statement was required. He hired trumpets and drums, and had the choir sing in Latin, which Lutherans, unlike Anglicans, accepted for the most solemn Feasts.