Ulysses Arts releases J A Monteiro Choral Music on 28 August 2026, with the Happenstance Singers conducted by Matthew Swann (UA260071). The album will include Monteiro's Limehouse Mass, And Ruth Said, Away in A Manger, and music from Seven Last Words.
Monteiro: Choral Music brings together a selection of sacred works by J A Monteiro. Rooted in the traditions of Anglican and Catholic choral music, these settings balance expressive harmonic writing with the practical demands of liturgical performance.
At the centre of the programme are selected movements from Seven Last Words, a setting of the final words of Christ on the cross. Each movement illuminates a different emotional character, from the tender compassion of Woman, behold your son, through the anguish of My God, why have you forsaken me?, to the sorrow of It is finished.
The album also includes the Limehouse Mass, written for the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick, London: a compact setting for practical liturgical use. And Ruth said unfolds in long lyrical lines, while Away in a manger offers a gentle reimagining of the familiar carol.
At the centre of the programme are selected movements from Seven Last Words, a setting of the final words of Christ on the cross. Each movement illuminates a different emotional character, from the tender compassion of Woman, behold your son, through the anguish of My God, why have you forsaken me?, to the sorrow of It is finished.
The album also includes the Limehouse Mass, written for the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick, London: a compact setting for practical liturgical use. And Ruth said unfolds in long lyrical lines, while Away in a manger offers a gentle reimagining of the familiar carol.
Joe Monteiro, who publishes as J.A. Monteiro, is a composer and arranger of choral music. His works have been recorded by the Ulysses Arts label. Two initial EPs, Limehouse Mass (2025) and Seven Last Words (2026), were released in preparation for this full album. Choral works include motets, Mass and psalm settings, and arrangements of hymns and carols. His organ work Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem was performed at Southwark Cathedral in 2024 and subsequently recorded.
He is Director of Music at the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick, London. He graduated from the University of Oxford, where he wrote for the chapel choir of St Hugh’s College.
He is Director of Music at the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Frederick, London. He graduated from the University of Oxford, where he wrote for the chapel choir of St Hugh’s College.
Happenstance Singers were formed in 2020 by their director, Matthew Swann, and a few like-minded friends who were seeking a high-quality choir in London with a distinctive warmth of tone, across a wide range of choral repertoire. They have performed a range of projects including Bach’s St John Passion, rarely-performed Flemish 16th-century polyphony including Richafort’s Requiem in Memoriam Josquin de Prez, contemporary classics including Eric Whitacre’s When David Heard and their highly popular Handel’s Messiah at the Kernel Brewery Tap Room. They also sing regularly for services at Westminster Abbey.
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