A sublime evening of choral music in the beautiful, candle-lit setting of a 10th century church was held on the 20th of November at 7pm at Holy Sepulchre Church, Sheep St, Northampton, the home of St Anne's Orthodox Christian parish.

Two choirs, the Choir of the Fellowship of St John the Baptist, supplemented by children from Orthodox parishes in Northampton, and a professional Church choir from Cluj in Romania came together in the 10th Century circular church at Holy Sepulchre to sing church music from the earliest centuries of the Eastern Roman empire, and contemporary church and folk melodies from Russia, Greece and Romania.

 His Grace Bishop MARC of the Romanian Orthodox Church was an honoured guest, as was the Mr Heygate, Deputy Lieutenant of Northampton, representing the Crown.

The Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Choir brings together young people from many parishes across the UK, and many different choral traditions into an exciting and joyful mix. Drawing on the ancient traditions of Byzantine chant and contemporary Russian, Greek and Romanian choral resources, the Choir makes the Orthodox faith eminently relevant to young people in the UK. Their workshops involve dramatic storytelling and group exercises to make the least confident singer comfortable with joining in with parish singing and can teach the most musically illiterate!

The Romanian Orthodox Choir "Psalmodia Transylvanica" from the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania), is one of the most famous Orthodox Byzantine choral groups, both in Romania and throughout Europe . Their fame is due to their unique singing artistry - an experience testified to by even the Pope Benedict XVI.

Our festival started with the visit of the Fellowship of Saint John the Baptist choir to our parish to do singing workshops with our children and families.

Here is Anna, mid-flow on one of her fabulous stories!