Oxford Harmonic Choir

Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio

Tickets from £15 to £30

A starry moonlit night sky

Finzi In Terra Pax | Bruch Greeting to the Holy Night

We celebrate Christmas this year with 4 lesser-known works from 3 very contrasting traditions. Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël (1858) is delicate and pastoral, with impressively rich instrumental colours despite the small size of the orchestra used. Gerald Finzi’s In terra pax (Peace on Earth, 1954) is as wintry as it is quintessentially English, but is filled with glimmers of light that shine through its general atmosphere of wistful nostalgia. Max Bruch’s Gruß an die heilige Nacht (Greeting to the Holy Night, 1892) uses huge chords to create a subdued, reverent atmosphere entirely appropriate to the significance of Christ’s Nativity. Lastly, the arrangement of several well-known carols that is Gustav Holst’s Christmas Day (1910) offers a seasonal dose of comforting familiarity.

Wheelchair Spaces

If you require a wheelchair space for this event, please call 01865 305 305 or email boxoffice@oxfordplayhouse.com for further assistance.


*A fee of £1.50 per transaction applies to bookings for this event across all channels - website, phone and in-person bookings at the Box Office. The fee is waived for Oxford Playhouse members.