EIF 26: Jason Max Ferdinand Singers

Start your day with a stunning programme of spirituals, folk songs and hymns. 

Conductor and composer Jason Max Ferdinand formed his choir to champion Black excellence through an eclectic range of choral literature. Founded during the pandemic, the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers have fast gained international renown for their ‘bold, impassioned sound’ (The Guardian). Following their Festival debut in All Rise, they present a wide-ranging and emotionally potent programme in this more intimate performance.

At its heart are inventive arrangements of traditional spirituals, songs and hymns. These include John Stoddart’s dramatic choral rhapsody on Soon I Will Be Done, Donald Dillard’s energetic take on the spiritual Didn’t It Rain, Norman Luboff’s tender arrangement of the Welsh hymn All Through the Night, and Cedric Dent’s exultant version of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands – complete with quotations from Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’.  

Other items include stirring choruses by Richard Wagner and Ludwig van Beethoven, soulful contemporary compositions by Jacob Collier, James Mulholland and Jason Max and Meka Ferdinand’s celebration of the birth of their youngest child. 

Presented by Edinburgh International Festival