Music

Can electronic dance music bring people closer to God?

The DJ-priest Padre Guilherme inspires real affection and curiosity, yet his music also raises serious questions about the relationship between devotion, beauty and form

Angels in the Sistine Chapel

James MacMillan’s Angels Unawares received its world premiere in the Sistine Chapel

Edward Barrett-Shortt

Lola Salem on… Emotion

From the Psalms to baroque music, the Christian inheritance shows how genuine feeling emerges not from spectacle but from restraint, craft and grace

Staging faith and folly: three choral works

Ambitious stagings in Paris and London test the limits of sacred and political music, while Elgar’s neglected oratorio receives a persuasive hearing

From Bach to Sondheim: why great music still matters

Michael White reflects on recent performances of Bach, James MacMillan, Bernstein and Sondheim, and on how great music still illuminates the human search for meaning