Leeds Baroque Choir and Orchestra celebrates its founder Peter Holman’s 80th birthday with a programme of ceremonial music from the 17th- and 18th-century English court. 17th-century state occasions are represented by Matthew Locke’s great polychoral anthem ‘Be thou exalted, Lord’, written in 1666 to celebrate a victory over the Dutch, and the two matching anthems written for James II’s coronation in 1685, John Blow’s ‘God spake sometime in visions’ and Henry Purcell’s ‘My heart is inditing’. 18th-century coronations are represented by Handel’s ‘Zadok the priest’ and ‘My heart is inditing’ (George II, 1727) and anthems by William Boyce (George III, 1761). By contrast, the programme includes William Croft’s moving Burial Service, used at every state funeral since the early 18th century.

Programme includes:
Matthew Locke Be thou exalted, Lord
John Blow God spake sometime in visions
Henry Purcell My heart is inditing
George Frideric Handel Zadok the priest
My heart is inditing
William Croft Burial Service

Performers:
Leeds Baroque Choir and Orchestra
Peter Holman director
Asuka Sumi leader