Christmas is coming

It's getting dark, the Christmas lights are up and crackers are on sale at the supermarket. But the sign that the festive season is truly upon us is The Sixteen's glorious Messiah, which they'll be performing along with a stellar line-up of soloists, at the Barbican Hall on Wednesday 3 December 2008. BBC New Generation Artist Elizabeth Watts will be joined on stage by Catherine Wyn-Rogers (who can be heard on our new recording of Messiah 'graphically evoking the refiner's fire'), James Gilchrist and Christopher Purves, also to be heard on our new recording 'adding a sonorous bass extension to his incisive baritone'.

Join us if you can for what promises to be a remarkable evening - not least because it will be the 150th time that The Sixteen have performed Messiah.

It was a busy weekend with an Open Rehearsal on Saturday afternoon followed by The Sixteen's debut performance in St James' Church, Grimsby as part of the St Hugh's Festival.

Both events a great success.

Next up is the Kings Place festival opening weekend - 100 concerts in 5 days! The first of our 2 performances is now sold out but it will be possible to catch the foyer performance from 1pm on Sunday 5 October. Visit http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/ for details.

Welcome to The Sixteen's new blog.

We'll be updating regularly with news, concert information and tales from touring at home and abroad.

This weekend The Sixteen is participating in the Mayor of London's Open Rehearsal initiative, giving members of the public the opportunity to go behind the scenes and see top arts organisations from a different perspective. It's going to be a busy weekend with almost 300 different events to choose from. You will find all the information by visiting www.openrehearsal.co.uk where events are listed by artform and by date.

There are only a handful of places left for The Sixteen's Open Rehearsal this Saturday - if you would like to attend please email info@thesixteen.com or telephone 020 7481 1184.