Praetorius, M: Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen

Award-winning European vocal act Adoro join forces with the boys' choir and Anna Prohaska in a heart-warming rendition of the German nation's favourite carol - "Oh du fröhliche".

The album is a collection of the most popular classic German Christmas tunes and instrumental items by J.S. Bach. Daniel Hope and Albrecht Mayer perform the famous “Largo ma non tanto” from Bach´s Violin Double Concerto BWV 1043 and Anna Prohaska wows with her performance of famous carols such as “Leise rieselt der Schnee”, “Maria durch ein Dornwald ging” (a capella with the choir), “Stille Nacht” and “Oh Holy Night”.

The Augsburger Domsingknaben contribute a fine selection of German Christmas carols, a cappella and with orchestra.

The Vasari Singers’ annual carol concerts always provide a warming blend of traditional favourites and less well-known music from all periods and styles. Here, joyous and masterful 16th-century polyphony sits alongside eternally popular Victorian carols, and exquisitely crafted settings by Howells and Walford Davies join works as recent as Gabriel Jackson’s The Christ-child. Bob Chilcott magically superimposes traditional carols with entrancing new material, and no Vasari Christmas would be complete without some close harmony Swingle singing. The Vasari Singers have also recorded Gabriel Jackson’s Requiem (8573049).

The Vasari Singers’ Great British Anthems [8572102] was described as “essential listening” by Gramophone. The mixture of moving beauty and entertaining good humour in this programme makes it a disc which is sure to appeal to a very wide audience this and every festive season.

Founded in 1980, Vasari Singers is among the leading chamber choirs in Britain, performing music ranging from Renaissance to contemporary. The choir performs regularly in London as well as visiting many of England’s cathedrals to sing services, with recent trips to Canterbury, Salisbury, Bath and Ripon. The choir and Jeremy Backhouse are deeply committed to contemporary music and have commissioned over twenty works since 2000, including works by Francis Pott and Gabriel Jackson.

It is one of the oldest boys' choirs in the world, and even after now 500 years, the Vienna Boys' Choir is still a living tradition. This 2 CD set presents a selection of world famous Christmas songs alongside highlights from Handel’s Messiah.

The beginning of Advent is celebrated with a particular solemnity at Merton. For its second recording the college choir explores the musical riches that adorn this most special time in the church’s year, centring on a newly commissioned sequence of Magnificat antiphons from seven leading composers. Founded in 2008, the new Choir of Merton College, Oxford is led by newly appointed Organist and full-time Director of Music Benjamin Nicholas, and Reed Rubin Director of Music Peter Philips. The choir is rapidly emerging as a major force in collegiate choral music. The disc is recorded in the beautiful environs of Merton College Chapel, which has stood at the heart of the College as a place of worship for almost 750 years.

With a TV and radio audience of millions, the annual broadcast of carols from King’s College, Cambridge is an essential Christmas tradition for families all over the world. The debut album from the choir’s own label features a specially recorded performance of their glorious 'Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols', and includes many of the most well-known Christmas carols as well as new commissions from some of today’s most popular composers.

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is one of the world’s foremost choirs and unquestionably among the most widely heard. It owes its existence to King Henry VI, who envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel. This remains the Choir’s raison d’être, and is an important part of the lives of its 16 choristers, who are educated at King’s College School, and the 14 choral scholars and two organ scholars, who study a variety of subjects in the College. The Choir has been a breeding ground for numerous professional singers, many of whom will appear on forthcoming recordings from the new label.

The Choir has a rich recording heritage, having appeared on many albums for both Decca and EMI Classics. The Choir’s recording of Rutter’s 'Gloria' has sold in excess of 100,000 units globally and its previous albums of Christmas music have sold in millions.

This double album faithfully recreates the magic of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, opening with a lone treble singing 'Once in royal David’s city' and closing with a rousing chorus of 'Hark! the herald angels sing'. Each year, the Choir’s Director of Music Stephen Cleobury commissions a new carol, several of which are included on the album, including carols by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Gabriel Jackson, Brett Dean, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Dominic Muldowney and Tansy Davies. In addition, John Rutter was commissioned to write the new carol 'All bells in paradise' especially for this album.

Christmas resonates with the sound of familiar seasonal music - music that is evocative, uplifting, cheerful, and above all, comfortable. There can surely be no other body of choral repertoire that has such immediate appeal, and this comes about largely through widespread familiarity and love of the tried and true favourites. The Graduate Choir, NZ needs little excuse to break out the tinsel or to indulge in the beauty of some of the most enduring pieces of seasonal music.

Christmas with the Stuttgart Hymnus Choirboys, a choir looking back on 111 years of tradition. The spectrum of their new release on this freshly recorded Super Audio CD ranges over the centuries, from Eccard and Schütz by way of Bach and Brahms through to Reda and Willcocks. Fully dimensioned motets, intimate choral pieces, and festive polychoral compositions resonating throughout the sacred space of the church interior are represented on this release. The choir director Rainer Johannes Homburg can draw on substantial instrumental resources: the organ, cello, and violone form the basso continuo are joined by three percussionists!