TEN concerts in eight days make up the York Early Music Christmas Festival, promising more than 15 hours of uplifting early music from December 8 to 15.

A key part of the Christmas calendar in York, the programme covers the full breadth of the repertoire, from the luscious female voices of Joglaresa, performing Caroles of Nuns and Roses at the National Centre of Early Music, in Walmgate, on December 12, to baroque recorders with a twist in Red Priest's Christmas By Candlelight concert, Winter Baroque Carnival, on December 13 at the same venue.

Pioneering period instrument ensemble Spiritato! make their festival debut in the opening concert at the NCEM next Thursday night, and fellow debutants In Echo, a newly created ensemble of experienced musicians that includes cornetto player Gawain Glenton, will give the closing concert on December 15, again at the NCEM.

There will be an opportunity for singers to take part in A Choral Workshop at the York Cemetery Chapel, in Cemetery Road, on December 10, where they can find their voice in an enlightening day led by composer and conductor James Week from 10.30am to 4pm. No fewer than 40 people have signed up for the singing sessions, which will end with a performance.

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Red Priest

"This workshop is fully booked, unless you happen to be a tenor, as we can always slip in more tenors because there are always more needed," says festival director Delma Tomlin. Any tenor interested in taking part can find more details at ncem.co.uk/jamesweeksworkshop.

The festival performances will be held mainly in the candle-lit surroundings of the NCEM at St Margaret's Church, where mince pies will be provided at most concerts. "Our Christmas festival holds a special place in the Early Music calendar, but also in the City of York's Christmas calendar," says Delma.

"We're delighted to have a full and distinct programme, which is punctuated by some truly special performances. It includes the vibrant and forceful tones of the all-female Joglaresa and a special programme from our 2016 Eeemerging residency, The Goldfinch Ensemble. The NCEM is more than honoured that Trevor Pinnock has included us in his 70th birthday tour."

Delma draws attention to one particular strand of the 2016 festival: the NCEM Platform Artists programme, which showcases musicians who are "really on the threshold of stardom, so you can see them here in York before that happens".

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In Echo cornetto player Gawain Glenton

The Platform concerts begin with next Thursday's festival-opening concerts by Spiritato!, whose musicians include University of York alumnus Nicolas Mendoza on harpsichord and organ, in a 7pm programme entitled Guts And Glory: Heroic Music for Strings, Trumpets and Drums. They feature no fewer than five trumpet players, each playing natural trumpets, instruments that pre-date the introduction of valves.

Fellow Platform Artists The Goldfinch Ensemble will perform Masters Of The Baroque: JS Bach and F Couperin at the NCEM on December 10 at 2pm, and a second former University of York student, Ben Rowarth, past winner of the NCEM Composers Award, has set up his own group, Renaissance, whose Platform concert, Un Soir de Neige, A Night Of Snow: Music for Advent will take place by candlelight on December 13 at the NCEM.

Rowarth, a bass, studied for a vocal MA with Robert Hollingworth two years ago at the university and will combine festive lullabies by Byrd and Poulenc's Un Soir de Neige with madrigals by Monteverdi and his own new work, A Night Of Snow.

Gothic Voices' concert next Friday (NCEM) will sell out soon on their return to York to perform Nowel Syng We Bothe Al and Som, a sequence of late medieval English carols, songs and motets for the Christmas season. As highlighted in last Thursday's What's On, the York musicians of the Yorkshire Bach Choir will present Bach At Christmas, including "the ultimate musical wake-up for Advent", J S Bach's Wachat Auf (Sleepers, Wake), at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, on December 10.

The first concert to be fully booked was Trevor Pinnock & Friends: A Birthday Celebration (NCEM, December 11) to mark the esteemed keyboard player's 70th birthday with a programme of Handel and J S Bach works. Among the friends playing that night will be violinist Rachel Podger.

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Trevor Pinnock, 70th birthday concert

Led by director, bagpipes player and singer Belinda Sykes, Joglaresa's December 12 concert comprises nowells, wassails and Christmas lullabies. "Every time Joglaresa come here, Belinda comes up with such fun programmes and they just work. They really focus on the repertoire and it pays off with such cheerful and entertaining concerts where her expertise shines through," says Delma. "This concert has sold out and we've already booked them for next year's festival!

Another sell-out concert at the NCEM features the "wild, exotic" recorder playing of Piers Adams in Red Priest's Winter Baroque Carnival programme of Vivaldi's Winter from the Four Seasons, Corelli's Christmas Concerto, Van Eyck's Carol Variations and a suite from Handel's Messiah, all performed with "a modern twist".

In Echo's festival-closing programme Northern Soul: Music In A Cold Climate (NCEM, December 15) will feature the world premiere of their new commission by Andrew Keeling, Northern Soul, alongside the inspirational music of Buxtehude, Staden, Dowland, Bertali and Dietrich Becke in a focus on the sea-faring nations of 17th century Northern Europe.

Tickets are on sale at ncem.co.uk/xmas and on 01904 658338, including an online deal where you can buy a ticket for Spiritato! and In Echo's concerts for the price of one, using the code Xmas16. Concerts start at 7.30pm unless stated otherwise.