Chapel Aglow: Candlelit Carols 2025
By jamal sutton, assistant director of music and Organist
4 december 2025
charterhouse news
As the iconic tree goes up in the Memorial Chapel, with its hundreds of glowing white lights luminescing in the corner of the Sanctuary, you know that Christmas at Charterhouse has arrived. And what does that mean? Yes, of course, the annual beautiful evenings of Candlelit Carols, sung again this year by the excellent Schola Cantorum under the direction of the Director of Music, Mr David McKee.
In recent renditions of these special evenings, there has been a move to involve more Charterhouse musicians and this year saw the assembled, excellent Chamber Orchestra joining Schola. At the top of the programme, interspersed as ever with selected appropriate readings, was JS Bach’s famous Cantata No. 140, ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’, a performance of the complete Cantata with excellent solos from members of Schola and instrumental obbligato solos to accompany. Coco and Evelina, First Year Specialists (Year 12), (soprano) duetted with Michelin, Second Year Specialist (Fifth) and Charlie, Fifth (Year 11) (bass), whilst instrumental offerings came from Hayley, First Year Specialist (Year 12) (violin) and Mrs Turner (oboe). Dramatic and informative recitatives were provided by Mr Brooks amidst the solo movements.
It is no easy feat to take on a complete Cantata, and the pupils across Schola and Chamber Orchestra showed real understanding, maturity, and stylistic playing and singing to create a musical and magical performance to delight the massed audiences over the two nights. The music of JS Bach is famously tricky to perform, with its long lines and intricate polyphony; however, singers and instrumentalists were up to the task.
In the warm and generous acoustic of the Chapel, complete with candlelit atmosphere, this was a wonderful way to celebrate the first half of the concert.
jamal sutton, assistant director of music and organist
The second half of the evening saw a, perhaps, more traditional Candlelit performance from Schola, offering a selection of unaccompanied carols celebrating different parts of the Christmas story. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’s Hodie! was given real swing and character, particularly with its rapturous and arresting start, perhaps a perfect antidote to the much calmer and quieter, yet serenely beautiful, Reginald Jacques setting of Away in a Manger, sung with such poise and character.
David Willcocks’ name is somewhat synonymous with Christmas and his setting of The Infant King was a lovely pairing to the Jacques, both similar in style and effect. These two works were the bread to the Elizabeth Poston filling, Schola singing her now famous setting of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree. With its angelic upper voice opening and final verse cleverly composed round, the sonority and harmony of this delicate work soared through the Memorial Chapel to provide a beautiful moment of elegance as part of the evening’s performance. OC Ralph Vaughan Williams’ jovial Wassail Song rounded off the evening before the choir processed out with their flickering flames to the Recessional plainsong from Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, fast becoming a Charterhouse favourite at this time of year.
Two beautiful evenings, sung expertly by Schola Cantorum. A wonderful way to still the busyness and whirlwind time of the year, the perfect start to a Charterhouse Christmas. Bravo tutti, a special occasion. |
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