The first of Kingfisher Chorale’s three Christmas concerts took place in Leicester's mediaeval Guildhall. Outside, the city moved at its usual 21st century pace; inside we were creating a different world. No frantic Christmas shopping here! A couple of hours before the doors opened, the fire was roaring in the grate, the wine was mulling, and we were carefully rehearsing another superb programme of delightful Christmas music, old and new.

One thing is certain, the Baroque music of Latin America is quite remarkable, and utterly gorgeous.

It was a frosty Saturday just before Christmas in 1997.   I’d recently moved to Leicester to take up an Engineering lectureship at the unive