THE Burning Bush concert has sold out and the European Union Baroque Orchestra and Emma Kirkby & Friends are close to doing so. Good news indeed for the five-day York Early Music Christmas Festival, which begins on Thursday.

Festival favourite Lucie Skeaping and The Burning Bush take a seductive journey through vibrant Jewish music with klezmer, Hassidic dances, exotic Arab-influenced music from the Ottoman world and mystical ballads from the ghetto, on December 12 at the National Centre for Early Music in Walmgate.

Violinist Andrew Manze is the director and soloist for the European Union Baroque Orchestra's evening concert at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York on December 11. Works by Muffat, Vejvanovsky, Biber, Meder and Schmelzer and a brace of Vivaldi violin concertos form the 7.30pm programme.

Emma Kirkby returns to York for the closing concert, Praying For Reign: The Private Music Of The King-in-Waiting, at St Michael-le-Belfrey Church, High Petergate, on December 13. Emma will be performing with her Friends, among them York-based recorder player Pamela Thorby, David Miller and Mark Levy, in a 7.30pm programme that recalls the sumptuous private concerts of the Grand Dauphin, Louis XIV's heir. Works for voices and recorder consort by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Lully, d'Anglebert and Corbetta will feature.

The festival opens with the Ebor Singers' concert by candlelight, A La Venue de Noel, in the Chapter House of York Minster on Thursday, when director Paul Gameson conducts a 7.30pm programme of Christmas music by Charpentier, honouring the Virgin Mary in a selection of carols, motets and dramatic oratorios.

"We'll be doing Charpentier's Christmas Oratorio of the Shepherds and some Christmas Noels, some sung, some instrumental, and the Marian music will include his wonderful three-choir Salve Regina, which is just amazing," says Paul.

"Then there's his Magnificat on a groundbass, a recurring melody that John Barry also used for his theme tune for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

"If you contrast the music, Charpentier's Christmas music is all quite French, whereas his Marian music bears the influence of his time in Italy."

Richard Boothby, viola de gamba, and Sophie Yates, harpsichord, play J S Bach's Sonata in D Major and two Forqueray suites that "represent the pinnacle of technical difficulty in the solo French viol repertory", on December 10 at 7.30pm at the NCEM.

"This is a seriously Early Music concert," says festival administrator Delma Tomlin. "Forqueray's suites are probably the most difficult to play in the viola da gamba repertoire. In fact there are only seven players in the world who can play them, and they tend to do their own editions."

The Classic Buskers promise eccentric arrangements and derangements of most of the world's musical masterpieces in their 12.30pm show in the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, on December 11. Michael Copley will work his way through more than 30 woodwind instruments while Ian Moore will be content with only two, a pink accordion and a yellow one.

The festival is providing a showcase for York's early music ensemble for young people, the Minster Minstrels, who present the Young Minstrels' Guide To The Orchestra at the festival headquarters, the NCEM, on December 11 at 4pm.

Playing instrumental music from the Renaissance to the Baroque, they will map out developments in orchestral writing, with excerpts from Handel's Water Music and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Experienced instrumentalists can participate in a workshop day from 11am to 4pm on December 12. Lutenist David Miller, viol player Mark Levy and the NCEM's education manager, Cathryn Dew, will host the morning and afternoon sessions suitable for recorder and string players in particular, as well as singers and people new to music making. This masterclass, entitled Where Dance Meets Song, marks the 300th anniversary of Charpentier's death.

For more information on the festival, consult the website www.ncem.co.uk For tickets and brochures, ring 01904 658338.

Updated: 09:38 Friday, December 03, 2004