In celebration of John Joubert’s ninetieth birthday, Wells Cathedral Choir with their director Matthew Owens present a new recording of recent choral works from this prolific veteran composer. Featuring works commissioned for and first performed by the cathedral choir at Wells, this programme has at its heart the extended St. Mark Passion, a profound and heartfelt retelling of the well-known passion story. Completing the album are the expansive Missa Wellensis and Joubert’s vivid and powerful setting of Lucis iste. The Wells Cathedral Choir was hailed in 2011 by an international jury from Gramophone Magazine as the greatest choir with children in the world, and the sixth greatest overall. The choir celebrated its 1100th birthday in 2009: boys sang first at Wells Cathedral in 909 and the full choral tradition dates back over 800 years. In 1994 the choral foundation at Wells was enriched by the addition of girl choristers. Today the choir consists of 18 boy choristers, 18 girl choristers, and 12 Vicars Choral. The boys and girls usually sing separately with the Vicars Choral but occasionally come together for larger events and tours.