Name: Advent Carol Service
Start: 2024-12-01T17:30:00+00:00
End: 2024-12-01T18:30:00+00:00
Location: St Bride's Church, Fleet Street

A traditional service of music and readings marking the beginning of Advent and the journey towards the light and hope of Christmas.
About this Event

Our Advent Carol Service at 5:30pm on Sunday 1st December is the first and most dramatic of our Advent events.

ADMISSION

The service is open to all, ticketless and free to attend.

Many of our Advent events are very busy; please reserve a spot for early admission to the church (30 minutes before the event) to avoid disappointment.

125 places will be held for later admission for those who arrive on the day without registration.

If you need assistance with this please contact the office on 020 7427 0133 or email [email protected].

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St Bride's is wholly reliant on the generous support of our visitors and congregation, for which we are deeply grateful.

This event is free to attend, but we hope you might consider making a donation to support our work, our magnificant Wren church, and the internationally-acclaimed music-making you will hear.

You can make a Donation on EventBrite when completing your reservation; or donate by cash or contactless at church; or via our JustGiving page.

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MUSIC

Advent is a time of preparation and our anthems, hymns and readings help us reflect on the needs of the world and recognise the true significance of the coming of Christ.

This year’s Advent Carol Service once again blends new and familiar musical repertoire. We begin with Richard Marlow’s Advent Responsory, composed for the choir of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is written for 12 voice parts which exactly match the ranges of the 12 singers in the St Bride’s Choir.

The main body of the service includes Peter Tranchell’s lively setting of Eleanor Farjeon’s poem People look East and features a virtuoso organ part.

The service ends, as usual, with the choir on the altar steps singing three versions of the Ave Maria. This sequence begins with the iconic setting by the Tudor composer, Robert Parsons, followed by that of Anton Bruckner, in the 200th anniversary year of his birth, and concludes with a more recent composition by the British composer Howard Skempton.