Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore

The first London performance of James MacMillan’s powerful Seven Angels, performed by the artists for whom it was written.

James MacMillan’s Seven Angels tells a story of the apocalypse in music of intense imagination and burning communicative power. This first London performance by its commissioners, Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore, takes place in the atmospheric surroundings of St Giles Cripplegate.

The composer’s deeply-held faith gives a special intensity to all his sacred music, and Seven Angels is no exception. But there’s nothing conventionally ’sacred’ about this extraordinary choral work: ’theatricality lies at the heart of this blistering music’ wrote The Scotsman after its premiere in 2015. Ex Cathedra’s performance is near-definitive: a striking upbeat to tonight’s world premiere of MacMillan’s new Stabat Mater.