Pope Gregory’s system of plainsong dates from 6th century AD and has provided the DNA for some of the greatest European church music. Harry Christophers, director of The Sixteen, is joined by Father Guy Nicholls from Birmingham Oratory to discuss the intimate relationship between these musical forms, and the multifarious ways in which great composers based their masterpieces on these chants, particularly in the Renaissance period, as The Sixteen’s evening concert will demonstrate.

Father Guy Nicholls is a priest of the Birmingham Oratory and the Founder and Director of the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music. His current projects include the production and publication of the Graduale Parvum, of which the first volume of Introits was published in April 2018, consisting of simple Gregorian chants of the Propers of the Roman Missal and Gradual in Latin and English for parish choirs and congregations to sing.

Listen to the divine offices of Vespers and Compline being sung in the gallery at 6pm and 8pm.

Book of Hours – Vocal Workshop
Book of Hours – The Sixteen: Salve Regina