Having long loved old types of music such as madrigals, I was honoured and delighted when one of my poems, Light in the Darkness, was bought as a reading for the Glasgow Madrigirls Advent Concert. It is usually held at the atmospheric University of Glasgow Chapel but, like many other events this year, they had to adapt.
It worked perfectly, with the singers using a combination of clips from previous years from the Chapel and new socially distanced arrangements, with most of the songs and music dating from medieval times. For this 20th anniversary year, they had commissioned two new musical arrangements, illustrations, and nine new pieces of writing for their readings.
It was an amazing programme, which you can download, and it included some of my favourite pieces, such as O Come, O Come Emmanuel and Gaudete! The whole event was streamed on YouTube and can be viewed at your leisure.
A rather lovely touch is that the Madrigirls have set up Just Giving donations to Shelter as the concert was completely free this year and they are a non-profit choral company.
The Advent Concert is a wonderful, peaceful way to take time out in the lead-up to Christmas.