NATIONAL CENTRE FOR EARLY MUSIC - United Kingdom

Welcome to the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM).  The NCEM is based in the medieval, Grade I listed, converted church of St Margaret’s which stands in the heart
of the City of York in an attractive and spacious church garden. It was converted in 2000 thanks to a National Lottery grant, which transformed the building into a stunning setting for concerts. We are an accessible, flexible and intimate music venue that seats audiences of up to 180.

Our aim is to involve as wide a range of people as possible in the pleasure, enrichment and inspiration that music and music-making can offer, and we promote NCEM as a national and international exemplar of the highest possible standards of creative practice, artistic performance and public engagement. All our work is guided through our core values which are: welcoming, excellence, integrity, authenticity, quality and ambition.

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Our Mission is to:

The York Early Music Christmas Festival was created in 1997 to introduce audiences to the extraordinary wealth of music associated with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the Medieval to the Baroque, intertwined with the sagas, stories and tales of the north.

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This year’s Christmas festival brings together seasonal music from across the ages with some of the most beautiful repertory from the likes of Haydn, Schumann and Mendelssohn thanks to mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston - performing alongside pianist Sholto Kynoch; and fellow BBC New Generation Artists the Consone String Quartet appearing together on the NCEM stage with the internationally acclaimed Chiaroscuro Quartet – presenting one of the most celebrated works in the classical repertory - Mendelssohn’s Octet.