Chance to witness a Coronation.

Byline: By Richard Yates

A king will conduct a spectacular performance at Durham Cathedral later this month with, appropriately enough, The King's Consort & Choir.

The `royal' in question is Robert King, founder, artistic director and conductor of the consort, an ensemble who have rapidly built up an international reputation, not only for their artistry in bringing Baroque and early music to new audiences, but also for their colourful re-creations of historic pageants and ceremonies.

The event at the cathedral on Tuesday, January 20, will be no exception - a musical re-enactment of the Coronation of King George II as it was performed at Westminster Abbey in 1727.

We are promised ringing fanfares, drum processions and shouts of acclamation in addition to some stirring orchestral and choral music, including works by such composers as Handel, Henry Purcell, John Blow, Thomas Tallis and Orlando Gibbons.

The King's Consort's presentation follows the original ceremony faithfully, beginning with the tolling of a bell and progressing through all the sections of the service, also allowing for spoken sections for the `archbishop' and `congregation'. Handel wrote no fewer than four anthems for George's big day - including the famous and rousing Zadok the Priest - and other highlights include O Lord, Grant The King A Long Life by William Child, the Te Deum by Gibbons and the Tallis litany, O God The Father Of Heaven.

Robert King and his musicians have made more than 85 recordings - including one of the Coronation of King George - which, in CD form, have sold in excess of one million. King himself, born in 1960, was a chorister with the famed Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, and founded the consort in 1980 while completing his music degree at Cambridge University. He made his BBC Proms conducting debut in 1991 and has been re-invited on four further occasions.

Tickets for the Durham Cathedral event, which starts at 7.30pm, cost pounds 15, with concessions at pounds 13, and are available from The Sage Gateshead's box office on 0870 703 4555.

Harry Christophers is another leading British conductor of Baroque music, as well as founder of a renowned early-music ensemble, The Sixteen. He will be at Newcastle City Hall next Thursday, January 15, conducting the Northern Sinfonia. Two symphonies by Haydn - No 26, The Lamantatione, and No 49, La passione - are in the programme and the Canadian soprano will sing Handel's motet Silete venti and Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate.

It starts at 7.45pm and tickets range from pounds 9.50-pounds 23.50 with concessions available, tel [phone].