BBC Three marks Christmas 2007 with a nativity play performed live and in public on the streets of Liverpool. This major event will be part of the lead up to Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture 2008.

Liverpool Nativity will tell the story of the first Christmas through the music of Liverpool with unforgettable songs being performed by the choir and the characters and a live orchestra with fresh musical arrangements.

Sense of Sound Choir will perform alongside a star-studded cast. Geoffrey Hughes (Coronation Street, The Royle Family, Keeping Up Appearances) plays the Angel Gabriel; Cathy Tyson (Mona Lisa) is the villainous Herodia; Jennifer Ellsion (Brookside) is an angel; and Paul Barber (Only Fools and Horses) has been cast as the Innkeeper. Newcomers Jodie McNee and Kenny Thompson, also from Liverpool, will play Mary and Joseph.

This unmissable hour-long event takes place on Sunday 16th December and will be broadcast live on BBC Three from 8pm.

There are no tickets for this event, so if you want to be involved, simply turn up at William Brown Street in the Liverpool City Centre and don’t forget to wrap up warm and bring a torch!

Liverpool Nativity will be broadcast on television at the following times:

16/12/08   20:00   BBC Three   LIVE
16/12/08   23:00   BBC Three   Repeat
23/12/08   22:45   BBC One      Repeat
25/12/08   19:00   BBC Three   Repeat

Following on from the success of last year’s Free Thinking Festival, Sense of Sound’s Jennifer John has been invited to return to BBC Radio 3 to sing in a programme called Words and Music alongside actors Cathy Tyson and Mark McGann and jazz musicians Gwilym Simcock and Tim Whitehead. In addtition, 10/10 will provide the orchestral sounds.

There will be a live recording at BBC Radio Merseyside on Saturday 10th November at 8pm and the show will be broadcast on Sunday 11th November between 8pm and 12pm.

If you are interested in being a member of the audience at the live recording, then please contact Radio Merseyside for ticket information. Tickets are free.

Monkey: Journey to the West, the wonderful opera created by Damon Albarn and Chen Shi-Zheng, has travelled to the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and has taken four Sense of Sound singers with it. Jonathan John, Rosie Bell, Juliet Russell and Jennifer John all feature as vocalists in the production.

The show, which met with fantastic reviews following its debut at the Manchester International Festival earlier this year, opened in Paris last night. The show can be seen in Paris until the 13th October.

For more information or to buy tickets to the performance please visit the Théâtre du Châtelet website.

Sense of Sound will be leading June’s Friday Late at the V&A Museum in London on 29th June.

Celebrating the launch of the Sing London Festival, this is will be an interactive vocal extravaganza like nothing before.

With the emphasis on a cappella singing, the audience will have the opportunity to participate in Indian, Chinese and Japanese workshops; be seduced by operatic “buskers;” witness the wonderful Sense of Sound Choir sing contemporary pop and finally join in an extraordinary vocal “jam” to end the evening’s celebrations.

The event is FREE and starts at 6.30pm, so please come along to experience what promises to be a wonderfully refreshing, inspiring and educational evening of fun

Wow, what a show!

We are thrilled that the Syd Barrett concert Sense of Sound Choir performed at last week at the Barbican was a brilliant success.

The choir performed on stage with a host of amazing artists including Damon Albarn, David Coulter, Chrissie Hynde, Martha Wainwright, Vashti Bunyan, Kate McGarrigle, Captain Sensible and many others.

The highlight of the evening was the surprise appearances of Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd who the choir had the opportunity to sing with in the grand finale.

It was a fantastic experience for all involved in a show of love and talent in honour of the genius of Syd ‘The Crazy Diamond’.

There has also been a tremendous press reaction to the tribute concert which took place last Thursday. Please find a selection of the reviews below…

Times Review

BBC Review

Independent Review

Music OMH Review