The Choral Pilgrimage 2025: Croydon

In an age of resurgent conflict and frenetic demands on our attention, our 2025 Choral Pilgrimage: Angel of Peace offers a slice of tranquillity in many forms courtesy of luminous, purifying music traversing six centuries. The enraptured songs of medieval abbess Hildegard of Bingen and the joyous large-scale Antiphons of Taverner combine with the mesmeric soundworld of Arvo Pärt, whose 90th birthday is celebrated in 2025, and the magical realm of a brand new work for choir and solo violin by composer Anna Clyne. Nine pieces of music from across the centuries speak of peace and acceptance and the ecstatic joy their reassurance can bring.

This year’s tour takes its title from words by Cardinal Newman, set to music by Will Todd – ‘Let me be an angel of peace’. Newman’s meditation on the challenge of existence suggests life’s deepest valleys only help its highest mountains feel more wonderful. Perhaps, when we see that joy co-exists with sadness, we’ve been visited by our own Angel of Peace.