"The Consort performed its complex polyphony with exquisite expressiveness and unadorned veracity"
Start your 2026 Christmas celebrations with a musical journey highlighting the joys and miracles of the Virgin Mary’s life as expressed in sacred polyphony from early sixteenth-century England. More Splendid than the Sun features works by lesser-known, yet no-less refined, works by Westminster-based Nicholas Ludford, John Taverner, and Walter Lambe. The core of the concert is a Mass based on the plainsong Videte miraculum (‘behold the miracle of the mother of the Lord’) for the feast day of Candlemas. Taverner’s magnificent five-voice Marian antiphon Gaude plurimum remained popular in England nearly sixty years after his death: the text encourages Mary, ‘the happiest woman of all who lived’, to rejoice on account of the grace her son brings to humanity, not unlike the carol The Seven Joys of Mary we know in the present day. Kick off your Christmas with a feast of seasonal music to lift the spirits and sanctify the soul!
Bruegel Consort is a five to six-part early music vocal ensemble specialising in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century sacred polyphony. The ensemble particularly enjoys exploring and performing lesser-known music from the early Tudor period, led by the research of tenor Nick Walters. Bruegel Consort has been selected as a BREMF Emerging Ensemble for 2026-27 and was the recipient of the Stile Antico Ensemble Development Bursary Scheme from 2024-26.
Sunday 13th December 3pm
St Mary Kenardington
Bruegel Consort
More Splendid than the Sun
Lambe: Nesciens mater
Plainsong: Videte miraculum
Taverner: Kyrie Le Roy
Ludford: Videte miraculum - Gloria
Plainsong: Alleluia! Adorabo ad templum
Ludford: Videte miraculum - Credo
Plainsong: Lumen ad revelationem
Taverner: Gaude plurimum
Plainsong: Diffusa est gratia
Ludford: Videte miraculum - Sanctus
Plainsong: Responsum accepit
Ludford: Videte miraculum - Agnus Dei
TICKETS: £22.00 £20.00 £18.00
Concessions: Under 25 (in education): 50% discount
Under 12: Free
All children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult
Disabled Access: Access to the church is all on one level. However, we can make available parking spaces in the small carpark, which gives the minimum distance into the church. Please email us at ssemk@gmx.com if you would like us to reserve you a space.
When you arrive for an SSEMK concert: One of the ways we make our events possible are various tables which offer the following:Vouchers for your pre-concert and interval drinks. A voucher enables you to purchase a glass which you can refill with any of the various refreshments on offer. Please purchase your voucher on arrival and enjoy a pre-concert drink! Afternoon concerts feature interval tea and biscuits rather than other refreshments.
Programmes are on sale on arrival. If you need to purchase one during the interval , please go to the Box Office table.
Raffle tickets are also available before concerts where the event's prizes can be seen. Please try to purchase these before the start of the concert to assist helpers in preparing for the draw.
Merchandise: There is always a table selling CDs; often of the event's artists and other early music discs at bargain prices. These sales help support the ongoing success of SSEMK.