Andrew Woode

Subtitles available, but only in Akkadian, Hittite and Elamite.

at least one was planning to, may well be more...

The Kingdom review – first-rate choral sound for Elgar at Southbank Centre | Opera + Classical Music Reviews | musicOMH Opera + Classical Music Reviews: The Kingdom review – first-rate choral sound for Elgar at Southbank Centre

The Kingdom review – first-rate choral sound for Elgar at Southbank Centre www.musicomh.com/classical/re...

Enjoyed singing this on Thursday- 230 singers in the Festival Hall, from Herts Chorus and Crouch End Festival Chorus, plus excellent soloists

Enjoy! I sang in the 20th anniversary performance as Herts Chorus commissioned it (before I joined them).

Actually it's not the common mistake with isolated forms, some of the forms are the contextual ones, but have not been linked to adjacent letters anyway. A whole new type of error...

The letters have been put into their isolated forms (not joined up into words) and then displayed left to right not right to left. A surprisingly common software error, but very easy to spot even for those of us with very little Arabic, which does show how much care was taken...

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruum for a summary of the classic story by Arthur Porges, and pdki-indonesia.dgip.go.id/detail/e3b0c... for the trademark

What does 'The Ruum' mean to you? A robot which has been taking specimens of animals of a given weight since the time of the dinosaurs? Or an Indonesian coffee shop (based on a recent trademark)? I think I would be reluctant to risk a visit to the latter just in case...

(Reviewing Hertfordshire Chorus’s St Albans Cathedral performance of the work in The Elgar Society Journal, Martin Bird wrote that ‘Put simply, it was the finest performance of The Kingdom that I have ever heard, or can ever hope to hear…’)

Crouch End Festival Chorus joins Hertfordshire Chorus and four world-class soloists to perform one of Elgar’s great choral works, The Kingdom, in a concert to celebrate its landmark recording. 7.30pm Thursday 29th January 2026 Royal Festival Hall London SE1 8XX Francesca Chiejina soprano Dame Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Benjamin Hulett tenor Ashley Riches bass Crouch End Festival Chorus Hertfordshire Chorus London Orchestra da Camera David Temple conductor In 1906, following the success of The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles, the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival commissioned Elgar to write a third large oratorio for its festival that year. Conceived as part of a trilogy of oratorios, The Kingdom continues the narrative started in The Apostles. Elgar focuses on the lives of Jesus’ disciples and the Holy Women, in particular on Peter, John, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene in the days surrounding the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and on the work of the early church community. The followers of Jesus are portrayed as down-to-earth ordinary men and women who encounter extraordinary events. The Kingdom is considered by some to be Elgar’s greatest choral work. A mixture of gentle conversational sections and astonishingly dramatic choral passages, The Kingdom also features some of Elgar’s finest orchestral writing. Three of the soloists from Crouch End Festival Chorus’ recording of The Kingdom will join the choirs in this concert, which includes the hauntingly beautiful soprano solo, ‘The sun goeth down’.

Two weeks to go before I sing in Elgar's Kingdom at the Festival Hall - two choirs joining forces, one (CEFC) on the back of a recent CD release, the other (HC) has previously enjoyed rave reviews for live performances of it. But we intend to improve on both of those versions...

Yes, Fort McHenry (on the evidence of one visit) is happy to talk about the burning of Washington as background to the victory in the Battle of Baltimore and inspiration for the anthem. But local history always has its special interests.

So presumably it will be pencils-only in the new room, as traditionally in Manuscripts? (Of course, people will mostly use these new-fangled laptops, not so much of an option in my day thirty years ago).

Cyfaddawd da. Ac o leia, os mae ci yn medru'r Gymraeg, does dim angen defnyddio cyfarthiad fel cyfarchiad. (Diddorol bod y ddau air mor debyg...)

Welsh-speaking corgwn could have spilt so many of the royals' secrets, even if not to the usual tabloids... but what I want to know is whether I need to address them in Northern or Southern Welsh.

For something more uplifting than current news; a community choir tour to Tokaj in Hungary in 2024 by the Chorus of Dissent of Stoke Newington (which I participated in): youtu.be/WCTaGnzDAU4

Occasionally one sees bilingual temporary roadworks signs in England ; presumably cross-border contractors who can’t be bothered to have two sets of signs.

Image of the Nativity with Mary, Joseph and Jesus among arches, with angels above. Margin with flowers. Latin text below: Deus in adiutorium meum intende. Domine ad adiuvandum me festina. Gloria patri O God make speed to save me, O Lord make haste to help me. Glory to the Father… plus English text Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, plus translations of Merry Christmas Nadolig Llawen Welsh Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus Latvian Glad Jul Swedish/Norwegian Hyvää Joulua Finnish Feliz Natal Portuguese Nollaig shona Irish Mutlu Noeller Turkish Bouan Noué Channel Island French selamat hari natal Indonesian Bon Nadal Catalan Afishapa Akan/Twi Gleðileg jól Icelandic  كریسمس مبارک kerismas mobārak Persian С Рождеством! S Rozhdestvom! Russian Boldog Karácsonyt Hungarian חג מולד שמח Chag molad sameach Hebrew Καλά Χριστούγεννα! Kala Christouyenna Greek Nollaig Chridheil Scots Gaelic Sretan Božić Croatian Muve neKisimusi yakanaka Shona გილოცავ ქრისტეშობას! gilotsav krist'eshobas Georgian Nollick Ghennal Manx Frohe Weihnachten German Veselé Vánoce Czech Feliz Navidad Spanish Häid jõule Estonian Jwaye Nowèl Haitian Creole メリークリスマス Merii Kurisumasu Japanese 즐거운 성탄절 jeulgeoun seongtanjeol Korean 圣诞快乐 Shèngdàn kuàilè Chinese Buon Natale Italian Joyeux Noël French ﻋﻴﺪ ﻣﻴﻼﺩ ﻣﺠﻴﺪ Eid milad majid Arabic Շնորհավոր Սուրբ Ծնունդ (Shnorhavor Surb Tsnund) Armenian (Eastern) शुभ क्रिसमस  Shubh krismas Hindi शुभ नाताळ  Shubh natal Marathi Khuxalborit Natalam Konkani Wjesole hody Sorbian (Upper) ⵜⴰⵎⴻⵖⵔⴰ ⵜⴰⵎⴻⴳⴳⴰⵣⵜ Tameghra tameggazt Berber Vy'apave heñói Guaraní Cualli netlācatilizpan Nahuatl Ki'imak Navidad Yucatec Maya Prettige Kerstdagen Dutch Maligayang Pasko Tagalog Bo Nadal Galician Eguberri on Basque கிறிஸ்துமஸ் வாழ்த்துக்கள் Kiṟistumas vāḻttukkaḷ  Tamil Mele Kalikimaka Hawaiian з Різдво́м Христо́вим z Rizdvom Khrystovym Ukrainian Ⲡⲓⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲁⲫⲙⲁⲛⲥⲫ Picristos afmansf ܥܐܕܐ ܕܡܘܠܕܐ ܒܪܝܟܐ Eda mawlada brikha Syriac

Merry Christmas everyone! (My annual multilingual card; choice of languages a bit random but also reflecting recipients over the years. Details in alt-text)

Did anyone else in antiquity have a competing but comparable theory of how to divide the world?

In theory only non-approved translations were banned after 1400. And in other countries (e.g. Germany) there were approved translations from the Vulgate which made into print before the Reformation got going. But for whatever reason that didn't happen in England in the relevant time period

Define your calendar! In some the 12th century is in the future. (not sure if there are any where it's the present...)

Looking forward to singing in this!

Last Chance TODAY to get a 20% early bird discount on our HUGE concert at the Royal Festival Hall on Jan 29th when we perform Elgar's masterpiece, The Kingdom.
With 235 singers from TWO of the UK's finest choirs, this will be POWERFUL
Promo Code 'HERTS' at the start of booking, link in comments

We performed De Profundis in 2022 but GIOHAS was entirely new to us before this season.

Interior of St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb, with Hertfordshire Chorus plus guests and London Mozart Players ready to record. Looking towards back of church and stained-glass window.

Exterior of St Jude’s on an overcast day

Recording session at St Jude’s, Hampstead Garden Suburb with Hertfordshire Chorus; singing Hubert Parry’s 12-part De Profundis (his best work according to Vaughan Williams) and his double-choir God is our Hope and Strength. This will be the first proper recording of these neglected works

Not for our potential crimes against music, one hopes, but monitoring a demonstration in the area. Details of the full album at signumrecords.com/product/the-...

We had a good time recording it at St Augustine's Kilburn in November 2022, and Karl Jenkins was present at one session. But there were some anxious moments as a police helicopter circled, adding unwanted noise to some takes...

Essential Classics - The very best of classical music - BBC Sounds Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music.

Today on BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics they used Hertfordshire Chorus's recording of the first movement of Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man, on which I sang: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (from 31:10 including the presenter introduction).

Would he be warning men against HEPATITOS shots?

My first visit to Provence in almost 50 years, and I don't really know the modern forms of the language; but I did study some older Occitan both as literature and especially for my thesis on the Occitan vernacular tradition, www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/d25795...