Chichester date for rarely performed religious drama

Tim Locke, one of the chorus members, explained: “I didn’t know anything about Boughton before we started this project, but he wrote gorgeously moving music, very much like his contemporary Vaughan Williams.

Bethlehem is a musical setting of the Coventry mystery play – the nativity story told through appearances of Mary, Joseph, the angel Gabriel, King Herod and several others. Each character gets their own very distinctive music so that helps the drama roll along.

"Then the chorus come in at numerous points, singing amazing versions of Christmas carols – including some very familiar ones like O Come All ye Faithful, but as you’ve never heard them before, as the tune goes through numerous transformations. For instance Boughton rounds off the first half with his own take on The Holly and the Ivy, changing keys and ending with a very fun, toe-tapping rumpty-tumpty ending that the audience won’t forget.”

Tim added: “The chorus are joined by a fine array of professional soloists – Mae Heydorn (Gabriel), Thomas Stevenson (Joseph), Mehreen Shah (Mary) and James Beddoe (Herod) – who are all very excited to be doing this extraordinary work. They have variously appeared at Glyndebourne, the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, the Wigmore Hall and English National Opera.”

Performances include Saturday, November 9, 7pm, St Paul’s Church, Chichester; and Saturday, November 23, 7pm, St Mary de Haura Church, Shoreham. Tickets are available from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/nso

Contralto Mae Heydorn is Gabriel. An Anglo-Swedish Society scholar Mae Heydorn studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Graduating with distinction she made her operatic debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Woodpecker in The Cunning Little Vixen. Mae is the winner of the Swedish Wagner Prize 2019. In 2023 Mae sang Handel at Sotheby’s as part of Oliver Zeffman’s Barbican Classical Pride. She understudied Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia & Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw at Glyndebourne and continues her love of performing Britten’s music most recently as Auntie in Peter Grimes at the Southbank Centre.

Aspiring baritone Thomas Stevenson (Joseph) trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, completing a masters in vocal performance in 2020. He has sung in amateur and professional productions of oratorios, operas and choral works since 2010. This year’s engagements include Dr Bartolo in Opera Anywhere's Nozze di Figaro.