Championing music from a bygone age ...

The “grand motet” or “great choir motet” which is equivalent to the English anthem and German cantata was a feature of sacred music at the court of Louis XIV in France introduced principally by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The grand motet was based on Latin liturgical texts and written most commonly for eight voices accompanied by orchestra and continuo.

They were performed every day in the Chapel Royal. The programme also features a “petit motet” (“little motet”) by Lully’s younger contemporary Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The “petit motet” was the counterpart of the “grand motet” generally written on a much smaller-scale for use in private and domestic chapels.

Halifax Chamber Choir was founded in 1899 as the Halifax Madrigal Society. The name changed in 1989 to reflect the wider range of choral repertoire which includes sacred and secular music spanning the centuries. The choir performs in Halifax and other venues in West Yorkshire in formal concerts and also informally at local events. The choir’s current director, Aljosa Skorja, is an award-winning Slovenian conductor and musicologist.

Ad Hoc Baroque which is directed by Jillian Johnson brings together friends (most of whom are also members of Leeds Baroque Orchestra) for smaller scale, chamber music performances. It is a flexible ensemble, with personnel changing to suit the repertoire. The group members are all enthusiasts for the music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries played on “period” instruments but have other interests in every musical genre from the fifteenth century through to the classics and jazz.

Tickets are now available at Square Chapel, Halifax for the concert on Saturday June 25 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £12.00 (concessions £10.00) available from Square Chapel Box Office 01422-349422

The programme will also be performed at St.Matthew’s Church, Chapel Allerton, Leeds on Saturday July 2 at 7.30pm. Admission at the door £10.00 (concessions £8.00/£3.00)

Further information is available at www.halifaxchamberchoir.co.uk