Gabriel Fauré – Requiem
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Five Mystical Songs
Christopher Hussey – Songs from the Temple – a world premiere
SOPRANO: Iúnó Connolly BARITONE: Jacobo Ochoa CONDUCTOR: Ronald Corp ORGAN: Edward Batting
VENUE: St Michael’s Church Highgate, South Grove, London N6 6BJ
HCS’s Spring concert presents an enduring French choral favourite together with English song settings of celebrated poems by the seventeenth century Anglican priest George Herbert – including a new commission by HCS, and a piece in anticipation of the upcoming 150th anniversary of Vaughan Williams’ birth.
Anton Bruckner – Mass in E Minor
Amadeus Mozart – Serenade in E flat K375
Ronald Corp – Nothing Can Be Beautiful Which Is Not True – world premiere in memory of Alf Mignano
Gabriel Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine
Anton Bruckner – Ecce Sacerdos Magnus
VENUE: All Hallows Church, Savernake Road, London NW3 2JP CONDUCTOR: Ronald Corp ORCHESTRA: New London Orchestra
VENUE: All Hallows Church, Savernake Road, NW3 2JP
SOPRANO Anita Watson MEZZO SOPRANO Samantha Price TENOR Frederick Jones BARITONE Stephen Gadd
CONDUCTOR: Ronald Corp ORCHESTRA: New London Orchestra
Verdi’s Requiem is a setting of the Catholic funeral mass in seven movements scored for double choir, solo quartet and large orchestra. It was composed in honour of the memory of the Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, who was greatly admired by Verdi and who, like Verdi, was a leader in the Risorgimento, the cultural and political movement for Italian independence and unification. The first performance, conducted by Verdi himself, was given in the church of San Marco in Milan on the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, 22 May 1874, and received immediate acclaim. A second performance, also conducted by Verdi, followed three days later at La Scala in Milan.
Today, Verdi’s Requiem is the most performed major choral work in the repertoire – a choral tour de force fitting for HCS and its supporters to celebrate a long-anticipated return to live performance.
VENUE: St Michael’s Church, South Grove, Highgate London N6 6BJ CONDUCTOR: Ronald Corp ORGAN: Edward Batting CHOIRS: New London Children’s Choir and St Michael’s C of E Primary School Choir
Join Highgate Choral Society for its annual family carol concert; an unmissable event!
VENUE: All Hallows Church, Savernake Road, London NW3 2JP SOPRANO: Mary Bevan MEZZO
SOPRANO: Catherine Hopper TENOR: James Way BARITONE: Sam Evans CONDUCTOR: Ronald Corp ORCHESTRA: New London Orchestra
VENUE: Royal Festival Hall SOPRANO: Julia Doyle MEZZO SOPRANO: Renata Pokupic TENOR: Benjamin Hulett BASS: David Shipley CONDUCTOR: Brian Wright ORCHESTRA: Philharmonia Orchestra
The power of massed choirs – Highgate Choral Society, Goldsmith’s Choral Union, English Concert Chorus and The London Chorus – joining with the talents of four internationally acclaimed soloists and the esteemed Philharmonia Orchestra for an unforgettable evening of music.
Ludwig Beethoven – Ninth Symphony and Piano Concerto No 5, Emperor
VENUE: Barbican Hall SOPRANO: Lauren Fagan MEZZO SOPRANO: Kathryn Rudge TENOR: Oliver Johnston BARITONE: Morgan Pearse PIANO: Daniel Lebhard CONDUCTOR: Oliver Gooch ORCHESTRA: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Members of Highgate Choral Society, Goldsmiths Choral Union and The London Chorus
HCS’s July concert programme presents a feast of sacred choral music from the Baroque period, including both familiar and less well-known pieces by contemporaries of Bach.
Vivaldi’s Magnificat in G Minor (RV 610) is a setting of the Song of Mary from the gospel of St Luke. Scored for mixed choir, solo voices and small orchestra in nine movements, the earliest version was probably composed in 1715 for the Ospedale della Pietà – the orphanage in Venice where Vivaldi was employed as violin master. Though much less well-known than his Gloria, Vivaldi’s Magnificat is no lesser a work in displaying the brilliance of the Venetian maestro.
Vivaldi’s Gloria in D (RV 589) is the best known of his settings of the joyful hymn of praise Gloria in excelsis Deo. Written during the period of Vivaldi’s employment at the Pietà, the theatrical Gloria’s twelve brief movements combine drama and tenderness in equal measure.
The Magnificat in B flat attributed to Pergolesi is among the most familiar pieces of eighteenth century Italian sacred music. This charming work of simple beauty is now widely accepted as being the work of Francesco Durante, the renowned Neapolitan composer who was Pergolesi’s teacher.
Jan Dismas Zelenka was an eighteenth century Bohemian composer employed at the court at Dresden, whose work was admired by his contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach. Zelenka completed his Litaniae de Venerabile Sacramento in C Major (ZWV 147) in 1727. Scored for mixed choir, solo voices and small orchestra, this masterly setting of a less familiar liturgical text is all too rarely performed today.
HCS’s May concert programme is a scintillating mix of English and Spanish music, reflecting the choir’s forthcoming tour to Seville and Córdoba.
Elgar’s Sea Pictures sets to music five poems about the sea, including one by Elgar’s wife Alice. The song cycle was composed mainly in 1899 and received its first performance the same year. Originally for contralto voice and piano quintet, HCS will sing the sparkling arrangement for choir and orchestra by Donald Fraser.
Ronald Corp’s Missa Andalucía is a new HCS commission that will receive first performances in Córdoba’s famous cathedral-mosque and two churches in Seville, as part of the choir’s tour in early May. It quotes themes from works by the sixteenth century composers Morales, Guerrero and Lobo, all of whom were born in Seville.
The Spanish theme continues with two outstanding sacred motets for choir and organ – O Vos Omnes by the twentieth century Spanish cellist and composer Pablo Casals and Ecce Sacerdos by the sixteenth century Spanish composer Victoria – and with evocative Spanish songs, including works by Granada and Falla, and Spanish lute songs, sung by counter-tenor Magid El-Bushra.
Complementing these Spanish pieces are two gems of twentieth century English music for choir and organ – Edward Elgar’s Give Unto The Lord from Psalm 29, and Herbert Howells’ Like as the Hart Desireth the Waterbrooks from Psalm 42 – as well as Benjamin Britten’s Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria for solo organ.
