BENJAMIN Britten's festive work A Ceremony Of Carols will be the centrepiece of The Ebor Singers' Christmas concert by candlelight in the intimacy of the National Centre for Early Music in York on Saturday night.

Britten began work on his Ceremony of Carols in 1942 after three successful years in America. On board a Swedish cargo vessel bound for Britain, dodging German U-boats, Britten set to music some medieval poems from a book he had come across while berthed in Nova Scotia.

"This striking setting in 11 movements is scored for upper voices and harp," says the York choir's director, Paul Gameson. "Few pieces capture the joy and expectation of Christmas quite as well as Britten’s Ceremony of Carols."

Alongside Britten's work on Saturday will be a Christmas sequence of German and English pieces that reflects this year’s centenary of the First World War.

"There'll be upbeat settings of German chorale melodies by Praetorius and two carols by Herbert Howells dating from1918-19, as well as atmospheric works by Whitacre, Lauridsen and Chilcott," says Paul.

Tickets for this 7.30pm concert cost £12, concessions £10, students £5, on 01904 645738 or at ncem.co.uk