Great Britain

Great Britain's music culture is marked by a centuries-old tradition of choral singing, as is shown, for instance, in the institution of college choirs. Church policy had a beneficial effect on the development of sacred music. After the Anglican Church separated from Rome in the 16th c. and the abbeys were secularized, many cathedral choirs were founded which took over the Holy Office from the monastic communities. The fact that sacred choral music in the British Isles is still written largely with an orientation to liturgical purposes must be understood as an effect of this constellation. The close relationship between the way composers and performers work, moreover, explains the tendency of a large portion of this art to be addressed to the general public. Marcus Creed directs the SWR Vokalensemble in a program of 20th-21st c. choral music by five outstanding, legendary figures of British music: Maxwell Davies, the Scotsman James Macmillan, Jonathan Harvey, John Taverner and Benjamin Britten.