Christopher Gray releases Christmas album with The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, O Holy Night
- Recording celebrates 200 years of Christmas music, with works by Poulenc, Howells, Mendelssohn, Errollyn Wallen, Jonathan Dove, John Rutter, Sally Beamish and more
- Album is second recording under Director of Music Christopher Gray, following acclaimed first recording Lament & Liberation
Released on 17 October 2025
First single There is a flower out 24 September 2025
The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, presents O Holy Night, a new album featuring beloved Christmas carols and contemporary additions to the festive repertoire. Released on the St John’s imprint on Signum Records, the album features music often performed in the Choir’s Christmas concerts across Europe.
The album celebrates nearly 200 years of Christmas choral music, featuring works from the 19th century to the present day. Francis Poulenc’s atmospheric Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël form the centre of the programme alongside Three Carol-Anthems by Herbert Howells, who was the Director of Music at St John’s during the Second World War. The album also includes a recording of John Rutter’s There is a flower, which was written for the Choir in 1985 and will be released as the first single from the album on the composer’s 80th birthday, 24 September 2025.
Alongside other festive favourites such as Adolphe Adam’s timeless carol O holy night from which the recording takes its name, Sussex Carol and In dulci jubilo, the album also features some more recent additions to the repertoire. Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen’s 2006 work Peace on earth features alongside Sally Beamish’s In the stillness, Jonathan Dove’s The Three Kings, Becky McGlade’s In the Bleak Midwinter and Tamsin Jones’s Noel: verbum caro factum est from 2017.
O Holy Night is the second recording the Choir has made under Director of Music Christopher Gray, following acclaimed first album Lament & Liberation released in May 2025. The latter was recently named as Choral Choice in BBC Music Magazine along with a 5* review, which stated “Christopher Gray’s first album with St John’s College is an unflinchingly serious programme of contemporary music, ambitious and challenging for both singers and listeners alike… themes of despair and hope explored with conviction in this impressive recording”.
Christopher Gray, Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, said: “With this album, it is good to have the opportunity to record some of the repertoire we love sharing with the thousands of people who attend our Christmas concerts each year. My aim with this album has not been to break new ground with repertoire, but to ensure that classics remain fresh for the current generation.”
The Choir and Christopher Gray will perform repertoire from the album with other festive works at London’s Wigmore Hall on Monday 15 December, which will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the BBC Radio 3/Wigmore Hall Lunchtime Concert series. They then embark on a Christmas tour across Europe, visiting Philharmonie Luxembourg (17 December) and Theater Heerlen (19 December) and Spot Groningen (21 December) in the Netherlands.
O Holy Night is released on physical and digital on 17 October 2025 and can be pre-ordered via the Signum website.