Timeless and haunting, the music of Gregorian chant is woven through our programme. In the Renaissance, composers Shepherd, Victoria and Tallis craft polyphonic lines around these ancient melodies. Later composers such as Durufle quote more directly, harmonising the chant with dreamy textures. The centrepiece of the programme is the beautiful and rarely heard Mass of St Gregory by the French composer Marc de Ranse. The music recalls the expressivity of the Fauré Requiem with a subtle impressionistic twist, heard to perfection in Exeter Chapel, itself inspired by Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

Alongside these in a wonderfully varied programme will come one of the great English Cathedral anthems (‘Blessed City, Heavenly Salem’), a thrilling set of variations on the seventh century hymn Urbs beata. The organist is Timothy Wakerell (St Paul’s Cathedral; New College Oxford).

Tickets available from Tickets Oxford.