The Holy Guest (Amy Bebbington)

A note from the librettist:

I love looking behind the familiar stories of Holy Scripture to discover the humanity in them.  Here, the child Jesus sits at the table with us, and the Nativity itself recalls the cries of young people around the world, even the neglected young person in all human beings, because Jesus is involved in all our humanity. Love's purpose in Christ, in the Incarnation, is to reach us, to hear human cries and not leave us abandoned.

Euan Tait. Caen, Summer 2025.

A note from the composer:

Euan’s writing is a gift for choral composers. Setting his poem was an enjoyably creative process since it is well structured, thematically satisfying and speaks deeply of compassion for all humanity. These elements, I hope, are reflected in how the repeated motifs are shaped, the equal sharing of key melody lines between all voices, melismatic word painting and an impassioned climax.

This work is designed to be accessible to most church choirs that generally have more upper than lower voices, and are used to accomplishing straightforward mixed voice repertoire with relatively little rehearsal time. That’s not to say that it isn’t also suitable for other types of choirs!

Amy Bebbington

Catalogue number: CH2502

ISMN: 979-0-708266-51-8