The centrepiece of the concert is a grouping of 4 settings of the moving Biblical text, When David heard that Absalom was dead. Settings by three 16th century English composers, Thomas Weelkes, Thomas Tomkins and Robert Ramsey, use false relations and dense chromatic harmony to bring out the meaning of the text, whereas contemporary American composer Eric Whitacre's setting makes a profound use of silence.

Accompanying these pieces will be a rare sacred piece by the 19th century opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. German born but with a career spanning Italian and French opera houses, Meyerbeer's grand setting of Psalm91 in German for double choir was written late in his life for Berlin Cathedral.

Also in the concert are motets by the contemporary English composer Cecilia MacDowell and by the contemporary Polish composer Romuald Twardowski.