The young Felix Mendelssohn's acquaintance with Acis and Galatea was due to Carl Friedrich Zelter, his composition teacher and conductor of the Berlin Singakademie. In 1828 Zelter asked Mendelssohn, by then a student at Berlin's university, to produce rescored versions of both Acis and Galatea and the Dettingen Te Deum for the use of the Singakademie. According to Fanny these orchestrations were a quid pro quo for obtaining Zelter's blessing on Felix's proposed revival of Bach's St. Matthew Passion and securing the cooperation of the Singakademie in the venture, which came to fruition on 11 March 1829.

John Taverner, the most outstanding English composer of his time, was appointed Informator Choristarum of Cardinal College, Oxford in 1526, with the charge of establishing the foremost choral institution in the land. He succeeded magnificently and the tradition continues to this day at what is now known as Christ Church, Oxford, with acclaimed director , renowned for his strength in 16th century choral music, at the helm. Darlington and his forces – 16 boys and 12 men, unchanged since the 1520s – pay homage to their predecessor with a programme of his liturgical music written at Oxford. While there, Taverner had to write music to be performed virtually round the clock and he rose to the challenge using great imagination.

Persecution of the innocent, malevolent authority exerting itself against ideas that threaten and challenge, the power of a peaceful, loving humility in the face of tyranny, the facing-down of fear; all hold profound universal resonance for people of many faiths and those of none. Such is the power of the Passion story, and in his new work, Invictus: A Passion, multi-award-winning composer Howard Goodall has found a route directly to people's hearts, telling the story afresh through his choice of thought provoking texts combined with heart-rending yet inspiring music.

Cardinal Wolsey – a flamboyant patron of the arts – founded Cardinal College, Oxford, in 1525, establishing a choir that was both larger and more accomplished than King Henry VIII’s own. Following Wolsey’s notorious fall from grace in 1529, Cardinal College was renamed Christ Church and the present-day Cathedral choristers pay tribute to its first master of music, Richard Pygott.