Since 2016, we have performed yearly Christmas concerts featuring both well-known, well-loved Christmas music, as well as some lesser-known pieces and new compositions.

The human experience is universal, and nowhere is this more apparent than in music. Through folk songs from 22 cultures, organised not by geography but by theme, this program explores the power of music to connect people on a deep emotional level.

Before recorded music, people might not have heard a full Oratorio performance often. However, during the Victorian period, an explosion of middle-class piano ownership and mass-produced sheet music facilitated at-home music-making. Oratorio at Home explored that sound world, performing popular solo and chorus pieces with minimal resources - six performers and a piano built in the 19th century.

Inspired by the success of 'An Easter Celebration', Mozart's Requiem in D minor was performed (in part) with the Grahamstown Cathedral Consort Choir for the service in commemoration of the Faithful Departed at the Cathedral Church of St. Michael and St. George. This was followed by a performance of the full Requiem on the anniversary of the composer's death on 05 December 2022.

After a retraction of some COVID-19 restrictions permitted choral singing in religious services, this concert was held as a celebration of not only the resurrection of Christ at Easter but also the return of sung music to the Church. The first half showcased Easter hymns, carols, and anthems, while the full third part of Handel's Messiah concluded the programme.

Initially performed for the Centenary of Armistice Day, "Better Times" is a musical reflection on the Great War; the Golden Summer of 1914, keeping spirits up in the trenches, the effect on civilians on all sides of the conflict and the longevity of the aftereffects of the war.

Saeculum Aureum, the Cathedral Consort and a small orchestra of local musicians performed Johann David Heinichen's Requiem in E-flat as part of the service for the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on the 24th Sunday After Pentecost.

Performed on National Women's Day, this concert featured our sopranos, Jessica Lloyd-Jones and Caitlin Webb, and Theresa Dwyer and Alida van der Walt, accompanied and supported by Saeculum Aureum, John Jackson, and Garreth Robertson. All proceeds from the concert went towards assisting with accreditation for women in music education.

The first 'normal' concert we performed after the formal end of lockdown, Signs of Spring was reflective of the hope of the return to life as normal, coinciding with the appearance of the first spring flowers in the Southern Hemisphere.

After a long break, we returned to our early repertoire of Madrigals for this concert. We did, however, make an exception for the piece that gave the concert its name: Brightly Dawns our Wedding Day, from Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Mikado'.

At the time, In the Mood was something of a departure from our established pattern. The programme had some Renaissance music (of course) but included music from other eras too – from composers born in the early 16th century to one or two born in the 1980s.