Lead, Kindly Light

Lead, Kindly Light – The Sixteen’s Choral Pilgrimage for 2026.

Fresh off of conducting the first ever world premiere of a concert work in the Sistine Chapel, Harry Christophers will conduct the choir’s annual choral pilgrimage: a touring concert programme that visits over twenty locations in England and Scotland across the year.

Choral Pilgrimage – Lead, Kindly Light (16 April – 17 October)

The range of emotion covered by composers in the Spanish Renaissance is demonstrated beautifully in the selected works by Cristóbal de Morales and Sebastián de Vivanco that form the basis of this Choral Pilgrimage: Lead, Kindly Light.

Plagued by illness throughout his life, Morales suffered moments of great disappointment and misery, which is made more poignant by the quality of his music. Sadness to great rejoicing is exemplified in the beautiful yet highly impassioned setting of Jacob’s lament for his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin (Lamentabatur Jacob) and his ebullient motet rejoicing in peace, Jubilate Deo omnis terra.

While Morales spent time in Rome, Vivanco remained in Spain all his life.

The walled city of Ávila came to be the birthplace of three distinguished figures, not only the mystic, Teresa of Ávila, but also two highly revered composers, one the internationally renowned Tomás Luis de Victoria, and the other less well known but extremely talented, Vivanco.

His sumptuous 8-part Magnificat, lively and brilliantly scored, and the exotic 9-part Caritas Pater est are testament to that.

The mysticism of Teresa of Ávila echoes in the words of St John Henry Newman, a figure whose philosophy and faith has reverberated through the Choral Pilgrimage in recent years.

His writings represent a rich and thought-provoking legacy, which is reflected in Kerensa Briggs’ Lead, Kindly Light and Sir James MacMillan’s Nothing in Vain – commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for The Sixteen in 2021.

The Sixteen’s Choral Pilgrimage 2026 will tour across the UK, visiting over 20 locations, beginning at Southwell Minster (16 April) and finishing at Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh (17 October). Lead, Kindly Light was also be released on the CORO label on 6 March 2026, featuring the programme from the 2026 Choral Pilgrimage.

The album is also available in Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos.

Tour programme and album track listing:

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Christus factus est pro nobis

Cristóbal de MORALES     Emendemus in Melius 

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Assumpta est Maria a6  

Cristóbal de MORALES     Gaude et laetare Ferrariensis civitas 

Kerensa BRIGGS                 Lead, kindly light (new commission by The Sixteen)

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Magnificat Octavi toni 

Cristóbal de MORALES     Jubilate Deo omnis terra 

Sebastián de VIVANCO     O quam suavis est, Domine a4  

Cristóbal de MORALES     Exaltata est sancta Dei Genitrix a6  

Cristóbal de MORALES     Lamentabatur Jacob a5 

Sebastián de VIVANCO     Caritas Pater est a9  

Sir James MACMILLAN     Nothing in Vain (commissioned by the Genesis Foundation, 2021)