CROWNING Glory was the strapline for Cantores Olicanae’s spring concert with the Yorkshire Chamber Ensemble conducted by Charlie Perry. This double celebration of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary produced a tapestry of rich sonorities in the resonant All Saints Church.

Notable rarities included the beautiful Miserere of early 18th century Bohemian composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. His elaborate counterpoint was deftly executed by Cantores under Charlie’s dynamic direction.

Antonio Caldara spent his formative musical years as a chorister in the domed magnificence of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. For Caldara’s exquisite setting of the Magnificat, Cantores and Yorkshire chamber ensemble were joined by the accomplished solo quartet of soprano Emily Varney, mezzo soprano Mia Serracino-Inglott, tenor Zahid Siddiqui, and the bass Jonathan Hill.

Zahid and Jonathan had earlier given us two vibrant numbers from Handel’s Messiah, respectively: “Thou Shalt Break Them” and “Why Do the Nations”.

The poignant beauty of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater composed during his final illness was powerfully expressed by the soloists, choir and chamber ensemble in this finely judged performance.

The first part of the concert had ended in a mood of repose with Mozart’s sublime Ave Verum Corpus. Music more closely associated with Royal pomp and pageantry followed after the interval.

The dramatic orchestral build up to the choir’s joyous outburst in Handel’s monumental Zadock the Priest inevitably sends a shiver down the spine. Mozart’s ‘Coronation’ Mass in C brought the evening to an imposing conclusion with thrilling trumpets and drums but a (mostly) inaudible organ and keyboard continuo from Anthony Gray. Charlie Perry’s direction imparted an appealing rhythmic edge to the performance and the solo quartet sounded suitably operatic. This was so much more than a diffident church performance.