CHORUS director Hugh Brunt made his debut appearance at the helm of the Chorus of Royal Northern Sinfonia with a challenging and meaty programme of A Cappella music at Sage Gateshead – joined for some works by talented young performers of the Quay Voices.

The performance of diverse works of Holy Minimalism spanning 450 years opened with Thomas Tallis’ Salvator Mundi, featuring soaring sopranos underlaid by a warm blanket of rich bass voices. The closing Deus Noster was wonderfully resolved.

The singers turned up the decibels and passion in John Tavener’s Hymn to the Mother of God, written in memory of his late mother. Speaking of cosmic power, the piece was conveyed with expressive forcefulness.

The shifting chromatic changes of Roxanna Panufnik’s reflection on Byrd’s five-part mass were deftly delivered. The music moved on to 20th century and the spacious lines of O Nata Lux by Morten Lauridsen; who incidentally began his working life as a firefighter on Mount St Helens. It was sung with exquisite tenderness.

The clock turned back to Tallis’ O Nata Lux de Lumine, before moving on to contemporary composer Gabriel Jackson’s contemplative Salve Regina.

The Quay Voices bolstered the ranks for a vigorous rendition of Arvo Part’s Bogoroditse Djevo, which flowed seamlessly into an affectionate account of Tavener’s Mother of God Here I Stand.

Henryk Gorecki’s homophonic Totus Tuus was imbued with a searing intensity. The Quay Voices, who have been nurtured by Matt Beckingham, provided a highlight of the evening when they stepped forward by themselves for a dazzling performance of Tavener’s The Lamb. The concert was rounded off with Byrd’s Vigilate and an explosive dash to the end with the Slovakian composer Ivan Hrusovsky’s Rytmus. It was an auspicious introduction to the dynamic young chorus director.