Who better to propel us into the Christmas season than Nigel Short’s vocal group? Bringing their famed precision, panache and beauty of sound to Handel’s biblical epic is a thrilling prospect. Messiah is driven forward at pace by its wonderful choral writing, including, of course, that chorus.

Whether in sorrow or celebration, anguish or awestruck wonder, it is the choir that carries the musical drama in these mighty tableaux of prophecy and a humble birth, of Christ’s death, resurrection, and the life of the world to come. The nimble, rich-toned orchestral forces of the Academy of Ancient Music provide a superb complement.