Boosey & Hawkes Contemporary Choral Series

This piece was commissioned by Merton College, Oxford for the Merton Choirbook, a collection of choral music composed to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the college in 2014. It is a setting of some...

This setting of a war poem by Charles Hamilton Sorleys was composed for Genesis Sixteen and performed at the 2015 Cumnock Tryst, James MacMillan's own music festival in Ayrshire, Scotland, to commemor...

This hymn of praise was composed on the occasion of a thanksgiving service for a betrothal in June 2011. In search of a suitable text, the composer once again turned to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Brow...

Three Songs of Love was commissioned by the Exultate Singers and first performed at St George's Church, Bristol on 14 February 2015.The three texts (Clare, Yeats and McCrae) represent different moods...

A contemporary arrangement of the Basque Christmas carol, The Angel Gabriel by Nicholas Maw (1935-2009) is one of four Christmas songs written by the composer in the 1960s. The familiar melody is trea...

The Minstrels was commissioned and performed by the BBC Singers in their Winter Solstice concert at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London on 21 December 2016, which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3...

William Shakespeare's famous sonnet ('Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments'), often used at weddings and civil ceremonies, is here set to beautiful, fresh music by young composer...

With text from the Book of Psalms, His heart's desire is a short motet for mixed voices, with homophonic outer sections with minimal divisi and a middle section dividing the chorus into two SATB group...

The unique ability of the act of singing to comfort, cheer and raise ones spirit is celebrated in this beautiful choral work by Kim André Arnesen, one of Norway's most frequently performed and increas...

This work by Kim André Arnesen (one of Norway's most performed contemporary composers) was commissioned by the Athens Master Chorale, Georgia, USA for the 50th anniversary of their founder and conduct...

Originally part of David Bednall's Three Songs of Love, the short section which sets W B Yeats' poem The Cloths of Heaven ('Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths') is here presented as a separate octa...

Written as a wedding present for two of the composer's friends, Come live with me sets Christopher Marlowe's archetype of the late renaissance 'Pastoral Style', The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. As...

This setting of a well-known Christmas text by Robert Herrick was commissioned in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the University of Dundee and performed for the first time in the city's St Paul's...

Composer's note: 'This work comes from amazement - that the encounter with divine love, our relationship with the sacred, is to be constantly astonished by the endlessness of the depths of love. Love'...

This work comes from the continuous amazement at the endless depth of love that the encounter with the Divine, our relationship with the Holy, gives us. The perseverance of this divine love, which is...

Composer's note:'Ring the bells was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Choir, which also sang the piece's premiere at London's Royal Albert Hall on December 20, 2017, conducted by Toby Purser. Th...

Commissioned by the Anglo-Chinese Junior College Alumni Choir, Singapore, and first performed in December 2018, The Isaiah Carol uses text from the book of Isaiah which tells of the of the profound ch...

Commissioned for Selwyn College, Cambridge. This is MacMillan's second setting of the sublime poem by John Donne (1572-1631), 'Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of he...

This sublime setting of the well-known Latin text is by one of the UK's brightest emerging choral composers, Rhiannon Randle. Yet her O nata lux is a personal reflection on the captivating and timeles...

Da pacem Domine ('Give peace, Lord') is a message rooted in the heart of faith, making this piece suitable for any and all liturgical occasions. The setting was written at a time of great sorrow, when...

Composer's note: 'My approach to arranging this carol, as well as the other carols in Nordic Christmas, was to look at the text (originally in Danish by Nikolai Grundtvig, 1783-1872) and its backgroun...

Composer's note: 'There are already well-known settings of this text, most notably Bing Crosby's 1956 recording of Johnny Marks' interpretation; however, people (including Crosby) have tended to omit...

Composer's note: 'I was introduced to William Blake's poem The Lamb many years ago through John Tavener's famous setting and, when commissioned by York Minster to write a carol for their 2019 nine les...

Composer's note: 'The words of Edith Reed's translation of this traditional Polish poem wonderfully encapsulate the Christmas message. I love the way that the text captures the innocence and humblenes...

Composer's note: 'Walter De La Mare's poem Clouded with snow paints an atmospheric picture of late afternoon in winter and I was drawn to the image of a bleak yet beautiful landscape with the faint gl...