Sing to the LORD all the earth!

Composer and conductor Antony Pitts introduces the 2025 International Christian Choral Celebration

As the William Byrd Fellow & Ambassador at Excelsia University College in Sydney, I have the privilege of chairing the 2025 International Christian Choral Celebration, which celebrates musical excellence, our diverse worship traditions, and the underlying unity of the Christian faith. Excelsia is inviting choirs worldwide to join the International Christian Choral Celebration – we hope to end up with a giant playlist of some the finest and most touching choral performances from across the world, to serve both as inspiration and as a catalyst for further discussion and exploration.

ENTER YOUR CHOIR
Entry is completely free, and open to church, community, school, college and other amateur or professional choirs – of all kinds and sizes from across the world. Entry is simple: all you need are links to two (existing or brand new) videos, each being a performance of a song or piece of music with a Christian text or theme – in any language, in any genre, from any period. The only conditions are that one of the two pieces should be a setting of words or a theme from the Psalms; all performances must be unaccompanied – no instruments (though clapping and body percussion are allowed!); and each piece should be no longer than eight minutes. The entry deadline is 1 July, but there is no need to wait, as earlier entries help us to shape the themes and structure of the final Celebration playlist.

WILLIAM BYRD PRIZE
To encourage entries, Excelsia is offering the William Byrd Prize of $5000 (Australian dollars) for the performance that most moves the listening panel. More than four centuries ago, William Byrd wrote some of the most beautiful sacred music for voices, both for public worship in churches, chapels and cathedrals, and for private worship at home with family and friends. Byrd was a Christian believer who stood firm in the face of severe restrictions on his faith from the government and society of his time, and sometimes outright persecution. Today singing Christian texts and songs, in some places, is still a very brave thing to do. Those of us who can freely sing do so in solidarity with others around the world who are not so free. Excelsia is hosting this International Christian Choral Celebration to encourage Christians everywhere to sing out in praise of God and in proclamation of the Gospel, with its power to transform lives.

LISTENING PANEL
Coinciding with the LUMEN 2025 conference in September, when I will be giving a related keynote presentation*, the Celebration will culminate with a curated day of music in front of a discussion panel of expert choral directors and worship leaders, which will be streamed online. The panel at this year’s Celebration is a diverse lineup of music leaders, including the Directors of Music at both Sydney’s Roman Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals, and representatives of other parts of the Church, including both Orthodox and contemporary worship leaders. The Panel will listen together and compare notes, exploring music’s role in worship and reflecting on what can be learned from listening and responding to different traditions and kinds of music-making. The ICCC is a global event that, with your help, aims to celebrate Christian choral music of all kinds, bringing together choirs from around the world into a richly diverse playlist. But more than just an online musical gathering, the ICCC is a vibrant act of worship through many voices singing in harmony.

SINGING IS A TASTE OF HEAVEN
I have always sung – as a boy in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace, and later founding TONUS PEREGRINUS while an undergraduate at New College, Oxford – still going strong after 35 years. To me, singing in harmony is a taste of heaven. I have written choral music for many very fine choirs including the Choir of New College Oxford, Rundfunkchor Berlin, The Swingle Singers, and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral, as well as festivals such as Cheltenham Music Festival, Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy, and the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. Here in Sydney I composed a 50-part motet for Sydney Philhamonia Choirs to be sung at Sydney Opera House, and have just completed a piece for Excelsia called Re-New. When asked for my advice on preparing submissions for the Celebration, I come back to the same basic principles: be authentic – sing music that you know and love; listen to each other to get the tuning and balance as perfect as possible; make sure the words come across clearly and powerfully; consider the impact your singing may have on those who listen; and do it all in a spirit of worship.

HOSTED BY EXCELSIA
Excelsia University College has a 40-year history of teaching creative and performing arts with a multi-denominational background of Christian mission and discipleship that draws on the vast range of musical and liturgical traditions of all three major streams of the Christian church – Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. Faith and the creative arts come together in transformative ways at Excelsia: students are encouraged to explore their gifts while grounding their craft in purpose, and our mission in action is to cultivate a new generation of artists who are guided by integrity and inspired by Christ-centered faith – creativity and Christianity lived out together in harmony. Join us to sing out in praise and solidarity, celebrating the transformative power of the Gospel in music!

Antony Pitts, Easter 2025

For further information and how to enter with your choir, please visit and share this link:
https://excelsia.edu.au/international-christian-choral-celebration/

*LUMEN 2025 keynote: Polyphony & Polycrisis – What lessons and models can we learn from the performance of ancient many-voiced sacred music to guide us in a century of unprecedented change and challenge?

Antony’s choral music is available to download at https://one.equal.music/scores and to print-on-demand at https://www.lulu.com/search?contributor=Antony+Pitts&page=1&pageSize=100, and his website is at https://www.antonypitts.com/

His latest album with TONUS PEREGRINUS, One Equal Music – 12 motets from Requiem for the Time of the End, can be heard via https://www.tonusperegrinus.co.uk/

International Christian Choral Celebration 2025