On Wednesday evening, the Christmas Tree Singers performed their annual traditional Christmas concert from the bandstand at the Place d'Armes in Luxembourg city centre, starting at 18:00.

This year, however, they had been moved from their traditional early Saturday evening slot to a midweek slot; scheduled to perform immediately afterwards were the Howard Gospel Choir of Howard University in Washington, DC (USA).

Conducted by Stuart Alexander, and with Liz Turner on piano, the 20-strong choir performed a mix of Carols and Christmas songs. The evening was crisp - cold but dry - and the Christmas market was crammed with seasonal revellers, many of whom were availing of the Gluwein available from the market stalls. Many too, joined in and sang along in true Christmas-karaoke style, to the more well-known songs.

The choir started off with a jolly rendition of "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas", followed by "Decorate the Halls" before the carols "Where Shepherds watched their flocks" and "Christ the new-born King". A rousing "God rest you merry gentlemen" raised the tempo once more, along with "Tidings of Comfort and Joy", before the sopranos led "Silent Night" with the crowd hushing...

The concert sped along with the crowd swelling to traditional capacity numbers as the city offices emptied and the lure of Gluwein and Carols became too difficult to resist.

"Away in a Manger" was sung to a contemporary tune, followed by "In the Deep Mid-winter"... until they finished off in traditional (...) style by addressing the audience with "We wish you a Merry Christmas".