Singinglessons

E veryone has their own Christmas ritual. For one musician friend, Christmas begins at 3pm on 24 December, when she pours herself a glass of champagne, turns on BBC Radio 4 and settles down to listen to the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge singing A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.

King’s director of music Daniel Hyde is not remotely offended by this secular approach to his choir’s religious celebration. In fact, during Covid he had a chance to do exactly the same thing (minus the champagne!) ‘It was December 2020 and we were all shut down, but we had recorded a couple of rehearsals earlier in the month so we were able to produce a carol service without being in the chapel. I did rather enjoy sitting on the sofa at home and I would encourage anyone who’s not here in Cambridge to do it too.’ People write in to say that they are listening on the top of a mountain on a tinny little radio, or in the middle of the desert in the baking heat. ‘That’s the secret of its success – you don’t have to be here. It’s the idea that this is going on, and people can visualise where it is and the atmosphere of the place.’ The longest-established annual broadcast in history, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is now 95 years old. Additionally, Carols from King’s, a televised Christmas service recorded in early December and also broadcast on Christmas Eve, celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2024.

We’re sitting in Hyde’s score-filled study, with its view of the Backs (Cambridge meadows and riverside), talking about today’s recording session with the Britten Sinfonia. Hyde is conducting the orchestra and choir in seven carols by John Rutter (known to choirs all over the world as the ‘father’ of the Christmas carol), as well as Rutter’s 20-minute piece Visions, to be released around Easter 2024. HYDE EXPLAINS THAT the chapel’s own recording label is trying a new way of streaming this Christmas offering. ‘For the first time we’re not producing a Christmas CD; we’re trying to reach people in the formats they actually use.’ Three of the carols will be released as digital singles as a teaser to the EP, Rutter Orchestral Carols, which will be available through Apple Music and other streaming platforms from 24 November. ‘I can’t remember the last time I put on a CD,’ Hyde says