The 25th anniversary season of the Bermuda Festival opened with one of the world's biggest box-office attractions. And, in a small but intriguing way, the decision by the much-travelled choir of King's College, Cambridge to perform their first concerts of the new millennium in Bermuda, underlines both the sense of continuity and of change in a choir that was founded in 1441. It is awesome to reflect that some 50 years before Columbus first glimpsed America and 169 years before the wreck of the Sea Venture off Bermuda, the Cambridge choristers were singing daily services in Henry VI's chapel.

As befits that tradition, much of this magnificent opening concert, conducted by Stephen Cleobury, paid tribute to the choir's primary dedication to sacred music. Known best of all for its annual Christmas Eve `Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols', estimated by the BBC to reach tens of millions of people across the world, the group of boy sopranos and adult choristers has also won countless plaudits for its secular repertory of contemporary and commissioned works.

This concert echoed that theme, with a programme of choral and instrumental music composed solely by some of the greatest British composers of the last half-millennium.

A musical bonus for this performance was the presence of Fretwork, a uniquely gifted quintet of period instrumentalists known as "a consort of viols'', whose repertory also embraces virtually the whole history of English music.

One of the earliest of these composers was William Byrd (1543-1623) who provided the choir and Fretwork with the admonition to `Sing Joyfully' -- which they proceeded to do, with a sublime perfection that seemingly transcends technique.

`Rejoice, rejoice and sing' by Thomas Tomkins, underlined that formidable and disciplined technique as choir and soloists sang the `rounds', so beloved (and so complicated) in the Elizabethan era.

The modernity of Ralph Vaughan, who died only in 1958, was nevertheless rooted in that very Englishness, and he turned back to `the golden age' for his evocative `Shakespeare Songs'. Besides the chirpily cheerful scherzo, `Over hill, over dale' from `A Midsummer Night's Dream', Mr. Cleobury noted in one of his many chatty introductions from the podium, that it was "especially appropriate'' to include two of his most immortal, from `The Tempest'. Sung a cappella, this trio of songs dramatically highlighted the sheer purity of tone and clarity of diction that has made `King's' so famous over so many centuries in so many countries.

Still in modern mood, the second half opened with the five enchanting `Flower Songs', of Benjamin Britten (also a cappella) in which he set to music such quintessentially English poets as Herrick and Crabbe. A composer who loved to work with choirs (amateur ones at that), Britten selects, in `To Daffodils', the "four sweet months'' from April to July, the youngest boys for Spring to the hearty earthiness of the basses for hot July.

Fretwork, which provided a glorious accompaniment to the singers throughout, came into their own in two sets of instrumental works, including two dances by Anthony Holborne, which celebrated the prevailing popularity of the Pavanne and Galliard amongst Elizabethans as they supped and generally made merry: it is fascinating to reflect that Shakespeare himself, a contemporary of Holbourne, may have been of that terpsichorean number.

Fretwork's other outstanding contribution was their interpretation of Henry Purcell, England's first notable composer and whose genius is increasingly recognised internationally today.

The truly inventive, melodious quality of his music was vibrantly apparent in their Fantazia "upon one note'', and, together with the choir in the closing work, `Rejoice in the Lord alway'. Also known as `The Bell Anthem', the younger boys supplied the ding-dong peals of the bells, with the adult choir providing the text: this, incidentally, was achieved with three quite fabulous, yet restrained soloists who, along with the whole choir, reinforced how clearly we could hear, not only every word, but every syllable of every word.

Stephen Cleobury, director of music at King's College (where he still teaches), chief conductor of the BBC Singers, and a Fellow and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, is one of the giants of the British musical scene. With another appearance due by his choir at the Royal Albert Hall for the special `Proms 2000', Bermuda is indeed honoured to have opened its Festival with a programme and performers of this calibre.

Sorry to end on a negative note after an evening of music that was just about as perfect as it gets, but the Bermuda Festival (yes, Festival!) organisers could surely have put on a bit of a ceremony for this `silver' anniversary.

Why not an introductory musical flourish from the band of the Bermuda Regiment to mark what really is a milestone? The choirboys (a couple of whom were so young, their feet didn't reach the floor when they sat down) looked sweet enough in their dark capes, but the new auditorium is, quite frankly, grimly functional and drab beyond words. A few bits of greenery onstage, with a couple of frivolously silver bows peeping forth would, I think, have gone down a treat.

Purity of tone: The Choir of King's College, Cambridge delighted the audience at the opening night of Bermuda Festival 2000 THEATRE THR