Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Saint Nicolas Crouch End Festival Chorus, BBC Concert Orchestra, Mark Le Brocq, Sally Pryce & David Temple

• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Saint Nicolas, Op. 42:
• 1Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: Introduction05:28
• 2Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: The Birth of Nicolas02:20
• 3Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: Nicolas Devotes Himself to God04:37
• 4Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: He Journeys to Palestine07:51
• 5Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: Nicolas Comes to Myra and Is Chosen Bishop06:41
• 6Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: Nicolas from Prison03:04
• 7Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: Nicolas and the Pickled Boys06:12
• 8Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: His Piety and Marvellous Works04:57
• 9Saint Nicolas, Op. 42: The Death of Nicolas06:51
• A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28:
• 10A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Procession01:32
• 11A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Wolcum Yole!01:20
• 12A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: There Is No Rose02:38
• 13A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: That Yongë Child01:56
• 14A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Balulalow01:22
• 15A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: As Dew in Aprille00:59
• 16A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: This Little Babe01:28
• 17A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Interlude04:09
• 18A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: In Freezing Winter Night03:42
• 19A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Spring Carol01:09
• 20A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Deo Gracias01:11
• 21A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28: Recession01:42
• Total Runtime01:11:09

Info for Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Saint Nicolas

Crouch End Festival Chorus presents two Britten classics: Saint Nicolas and A Ceremony of Carols. Full of vibrancy and drama, Saint Nicolas is performed alongside the fabulous BBC Concert Orchestra and features tenor Mark Le Brocq as well as Coldfall Primary School Choir, members of Hertfordshire Chorus and Hannah Brine Choirs. The ever-popular A Ceremony of Carols is performed with harpist Sally Pryce, with both works conducted by David Temple. A Ceremony of Carols (1942/3) and Saint Nicolas (1948) are the earliest works that Benjamin Britten composed for public performance primarily for boys voices. These performances, recorded here at Londons All Saints Church and Alexandra Palace Theatre, truly show how glorious these two pieces of music are, and why they have remained so popular.

Mark Le Brocq, tenor
Sally Pryce, harp
Crouch End Festival Chorus
BBC Concert Orchestra
David Temple, conductor

Mark Le Brocq
held a choral scholarship at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge where he read English. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Kenneth Bowen and later continued at the National Opera Studio where he was sponsored by The Friends of English National Opera.

Upon completing his studies, Mark became a Company Principal with English National Opera. Roles at ENO included Tamino The Magic Flute; Paris King Priam; Count Almaviva The Barber of Seville; Narraboth Salome; Cassio Otello; Don Ottavio Don Giovanni; Don Basilio Figaro and Doctor Maxwell The Silver Tassie.

Mark’s guest appearances include Mephistopheles Dr Faustus, The Jailer Il Prigioniero Semperoper Dresden; Painter/Client Lulu Bolzano, Scrooge A Christmas Carol Trento; Luka House of the dead Brno Festival; Loge Das Rheingold for Longborough Opera and Tianjin Symphony Orchestra; Title role Biedermann und die Brandstifter, The Governor Simplicius Simplicissimus Independent Opera; Sir Philip Wingrave Owen Wingrave Opera de Nancy; For Welsh National Opera: Golitsyn Khovanshchina, Pierre War and Peace, Bassanio Merchant of Venice, Aron Moses und Aron, Scrooge A Christmas Carol, Sergeant Snell In Parenthesis, the Painter/Client Lulu, Le Medecin La chute de la maison Usher, Smee Peter Pan. For Scottish Opera: Harry King Anthropocene world premiere. For Opera North: Siegmund, Froh Der Ring des Nibelungen, Bob Boles Peter Grimes, Steuermann Der Fliegende Hollander, Shapkin House of the Dead, Witch Hänsel und Gretel, Eliates Croesus, the World Premieres of The Pied Piper, Cautionary Tales and Beached, Weinberg’s The Portrait and a staged St Nicolas. Vitek The Makropulos Case Edinburgh Festival and Opera North. Title role Idomeneo for Opera Northern Ireland; Belmonte Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail for Garsington Opera; The Fairy Queen at the Aix Festival and Liceu, Barcelona; Handel’s La Resurrezione and title role Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria for Chicago Opera Theater; Oebalus Apollo et Hyancinthus for Opera Theatre Company and the Classical Opera Company and Agenore Il Re Pastore and title roles Mitridate, Lucio Silla for the Classical Opera Company. Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins for the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and Monostatos Die Zauberflöte for Opera Holland Park. Mark has worked with Tim Albery, David Alden, Tom Cairns, David Freeman, John Fulljames, Richard Jones, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Jonathan Miller, David Pountney, Graham Vick, Keith Warner and Francesca Zambello.

On the concert platform Mark has appeared as a soloist worldwide. Performances include Sylvester The Silver Tassie, Young sailor Tristan und Isolde, Howard Boucher Dead Man Walking and Goldschmidt’s Mediterranean Songs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; The Fairy Queen, Dixit Dominus at the BBC Proms; The Eternal Gospel Janacek and A survivor from Warsaw Schoenberg for Porto Casa da Musica; Das Lied von der Erde Orquestra de Extremadura; The Dream of Gerontius RTE Dublin. B Minor Mass with the Israel Camerata; St Matthew Passion Academy of Ancient Music; Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Parry Invocation to music, Three Choirs’ Festival. Berlioz’s Grande Messe de Morts in St Paul’s Cathedral; Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Carmina Burana with the Ulster Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Royal Albert Hall; Messiah in Lucerne with Collegium Instrumentale Brugense; Christmas Oratorio at Cadogan Hall; St Matthew Passion at Symphony Hall with the English Chamber Orchestra and Mozart Requiem with the Madrid Radio Symphony. Further concert engagements include Die Zauberflöte at the Lucerne Festival; La Resurrezione, Solomon, The Creation, St Matthew Passion and The Fairy Queen with the Gabrieli Consort; Mozart’s Requiem with the English Concert in Salzburg and for the BBC Proms; Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasia at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Schubert’s Mass in E Flat with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s Serenade with Ballet Rambert; The Diary of One who Disappeared at the Nuremberg International Festival. Conductors include Jiri Belohlavek, Paul Daniel, Richard Farnes, Jane Glover, Daniel Harding, Nicholas Kraemer, Sir Charles Mackerras, David Parry, Trevor Pinnock and Donald Runnicles.

Recordings include Messiah Northern Sinfonia/Jane Glover; Valete in Pace Britten Sinfonia/Andrew Parrott; Tristan und Isolde (Young Sailor) Donald Runnicles/BBC Symphony; Pang Turandot and Remendado Carmen for Chandos; Samson, Messiah, Saul and Judas Maccabeus in live recordings from the Maulbronn Festival; Purcell’s Hail Bright Cecilia with the Gabrieli Consort/Paul McCreesh for DG; Handel’s Utrecht Te Deum, Boyce’s I Was Glad with the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral/John Scott for Hyperion and Offenbach’s Vert-Vert for Opera Rara.

Engagements in 2019/2020 include: Pierre War and Peace ROH; Mao Nixon in China Scottish Opera; Siegmund Die Walkurie Longborough Festival; St Nicolas QEH; Beethoven 9 Southwell Festival.

Sally Pryce
Praised for her ‘deft musicality’ and ‘truly astonishing abilities’, Sally is much in demand as both soloist and chamber musician at major venues and festivals throughout the UK and abroad. At the age of nine Sally won scholarships to attend both the Purcell School of Music and the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music. She continued her studies at the RCM with Daphne Boden, again as a scholar, and graduated in 2001 with first class honours and the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal for outstanding musical achievement. She also gained extra tuition from international harpists including Marisa Robles, Osian Ellis, Sioned Williams and Catherine Michel.

Sally has won numerous prizes including first prize in the 1999 London Harp Competition, and she was a finalist in the 1996 BBC Young Musicians Competition. She gave her debut recital at Wigmore Hall in 2002 and in 2003 she was selected for representation by the Young Concert Artist Trust (YCAT), only the second harpist to achieve this. Sally continues to give recitals at major venues and festivals throughout the UK as a soloist, with flautist Adam Walker and with the Sally Pryce Ensemble. As a member of the Live Music Now! scheme, Sally gave over 200 concerts in community settings across the country between 2002 and 2006. A keen advocate of expanding the repertoire for her instrument, she has given several premieres of new works and has performed with the contemporary ensembles Lontano and Okeanos.

Booklet for Britten: A Ceremony of Carols, Saint Nicolas