Karl Jenkins celebrates Christmas with UK tour
Conducting concerts in December at leading venues in London, Birmingham and Manchester, Karl Jenkins celebrates the festive season. Programmes include music from his Christmas collections Stella natalis and Joy to the World together with other Jenkins favourites.
Karl Jenkins is on the rostrum for a series of Christmas-themed concerts around the UK in December, sharing the platform with the writer and broadcaster John Suchet. Programmes at Symphony Hall in Birmingham (21 Dec), The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester (22 Dec) and the Barbican in London (23 Dec) feature music from Jenkins’s festive collections Stella natalis and Joy to the World. Performers joining Karl Jenkins include soprano Lucy Crowe and trumpeter Philip Cobb with choral voices provided by Canzonetta and the Crouch End Festival Chorus. Also featured in the programmes are perennial Jenkins favourites Palladio, the Benedictus from The Armed Man and Healing Light from The Peacemakers.
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Stella natalis is a work in twelve movements celebrating different aspects of Christmastide - winter, the sleeping child, tidings of peace, thanksgiving - with words ranging from the psalms to new texts by Carol Barratt. Joy to the World consists of nine carol arrangements by Jenkins including In dulci jubilo, The First Nowell and We wish you a merry Christmas. Both collections can be heard on a recording originally released in 2009 (Decca 4817806) and vocal scores are available from Boosey & Hawkes. Stella natalis and Joy to the World have become regular repertoire for choirs programming Christmas concerts, with performances this year in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as in the UK.
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> View the Stella natalis score
> View the Joy to the World score
Jenkins highlights in recent years have included worldwide events celebrating his 80th birthday in 2024 including the 3000th performance of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, and a Royal Festival Hall concert in June this year marking the work’s 25th anniversary. Recent Jenkins scores that have been travelling internationally and released on disc include One World for voices and orchestra and his saxophone concerto Stravaganza written for Jess Gillam.
2026 is launched with a Carnegie Hall concert in New York on 19 January featuring Stabat Mater and Symphonic Adiemus. The concert is presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York and features a host of visiting choirs, conducted by Jonathan Griffith.