‘The true spirit of the holiday’: Ex-Cathedra at Lichfield Festival
‘As we all know from ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’, [singing and celebrating together] is the true spirit of the holiday.’
One of our young critics, Amy, got the chance to see Ex-Cathedra perform for Lichfield Festival earlier this month in a special Christmas performance. Read her thoughts on how the choir created a ‘manual surround sound’ system, fresh takes on classic carols, and what we can learn from the Grinch.
The Lichfield Festival’s ‘Ex-Cathedra: Christmas Music’ on the 5th of December was a deeply moving and festive performance. With a varied programme of familiar carols, complex choral arrangements and both spiritual and humorous readings, the choir provided for every category of audience member, from classical music enthusiasts to Lichfield Cathedral regulars. The talent displayed throughout the performance, both through soaring solos and harmonic group pieces, was extremely impressive and almost ethereal; the choir’s voices took on an instrumental quality as they effortlessly coalesced, ‘playing’ any note necessary with apparent ease.
Something particularly unique about Ex-Cathedra’s use of the Cathedral as a performance space was their creation of a manual ‘surround sound’ system by emerging from and exiting through the side aisles and continuing to sing from both onstage and off. During the performance’s opening, various vocalists began to join the chorus emerging from behind the audience, one by one, creating a haunting atmosphere, with the guests hearing the choir before seeing them. Immediately, the show’s opening with ‘Alleluia’ sent chills through the congregation and I knew I was in for an early Christmas treat. The choir’s professionalism was clear from the start as they successfully silenced the expectant audience and processed past them to the stage, all while projecting a beautiful and complex melody throughout the Cathedral. Their vocal ability only became more apparent throughout the performance as they put their own inspiring spin on familiar Christmas classics such as ‘Away in a manger’, maintaining impact and unpredictability, even in well-known carols.
The lighting choices added to the music’s reflective atmosphere, with sunset toned backlights creating a warm but meditative evening mood. The combination of this subtle use of colour with the spiritual candlelit ambience gave the performance an even more emotive tone, leading the audience to reflect on their year, personal philosophies and the nature of Christmas. We were guided in this reflection by carefully selected readings, with extracts from the Gospels, such as Luke 2:1-8, alongside the hilarious schoolboy tale ‘Teach us’, providing festive inspiration. Readings broke up the performance, so visitors remained engaged, and helped us understand the musical programme’s themes, particularly those pieces such as ‘Stille Nacht’ and ‘Noel nouvelet!’ sung in their original languages.
Unexpectedly, the performance concluded with an opportunity for audience participation: the lyrics and melody for ‘See amid the winter’s snow’ were provided in the programme and were beautifully performed by both the Ex-Cathedra choir and their audience. This part of the evening felt distinctly festive as singing and celebrating together, as we all know from ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas’, is the true spirit of the holiday. I hadn’t sung festive songs in a Cathedral since primary school and had forgotten how uplifting and moving an experience it could be; doing something so personal and candid with a room full of strangers to celebrate the same event has a unique ability to connect people. This was the perfect end to a reflective and festive evening with Ex-Cathedra
By Amy S
If you’re aged 11-18 and would like to be a festival reviewer, applications for Young Critics open on the 5th of January – find out more on our website https://lichfieldfestival.org/aspire/young-critics/
You can find more of Amy’s reviews at https://amylswallow.substack.com/