Nigel Walsh

Church musician and composer

Bethlehem!

in 2009, Richard Skinner and I embarked on writing a musical. The result was Bethlehem! – a Christmas musical for schools and communities. The first performance was given in December of that year by the Beacon Primary School, Exmouth, Devon.

The Beacon Primary School, Exmouth, rehearsing Bethlehem!

This was closely followed by performances in Bishop Auckland, County Durham …

Bethlehem! in Bishop Auckland

… Newton St Cyres (Devon) and Crediton. Other performances have followed, including a joint venture involving Ide Aloud (Community Choir of Ide, Devon) and Ide Primary School.

Bethlehem! in Ide, Devon

A selection of songs from the Ide performance (2010) is here:

Song 1 “Listen to me” (Prophets)
Song 3 “Mile on mile” (Donkey’s song)
Song 4 “We are known as Wise Men”
Song 5 “I’m watching over my little baby” (Mary’s song)
Song 6 “Angels’ Gloria”
Song 7 “Tell me when” (Herod)
Song 8 “We welcome you” (Joseph)
Song 12 “Sing with us” (Finale)

And here is a choral version of Song 10 (Shepherds’ Carol) sung by the choir of St David’s Church, Exeter.