At the weekend, we kicked off the season of festivities with our annual joint concert with Finchley Symphony Orchestra. David Lardi, our Musical Director, explains: “This is the 35th annual Glory of Christmas concert – over the years, we’ve grown to understand what our audience enjoys!” As usual, the concert included orchestral favourites such as the Waltz from Khachaturian’s Masquerade and the Pastorale from Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, alongside a cappella choral pieces and carols for all to sing. Stephen Nurse, the leader of FSO, treated us to a beautiful rendition of the Meditation from Massenet’s Thais; David explained how Massenet wrote this beloved piece to allow time for a scene change in the opera, and that he had written parts for an off-stage choir, rarely included in performances today.
The concert was a joyous occasion, attended by many of our loyal supporters, and also by the Worshipful the Mayor of the London Borough of Barnet, and two of our councillors, Kath McGuirk and Ross Houston. We are very grateful for their support. Our partner charity, Food Bank Aid, sent representatives who were able to explain the organisation’s invaluable work to support local food banks to our audience members during the interval.
All in all, it was a great way to round off what has been a very busy term for FCC. The term has included two concerts, a meal at the wonderful vegetarian restaurant Rani on Long Lane, a group outing to see The Choral at The Everyman Cinema in Barnet, and visits from two of our honorary patrons, Paul Patterson and Cecilia McDowall, who came to give us feedback on our performance of her carol Now may we singen in preparation for the Christmas concert.
We’re off now for well-earned rest over Christmas, though no doubt there are a few more carols to be sung between now and Christmas Day… Our next event will be our workshop on Robert D Levin’s completion of Mozart’s Requiem, 10am – 5pm on Saturday 24 January at Trinity Church, Nether Street N12 7NN. There are still some tickets available, so please come and join us if you can.
In the meantime, we wish you a very merry Christmas and all the best for 2026.