Description.
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.
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
Orff’s choral classic performed alongside Wagner’s Prelude to Act III Lohengrin and Saint-Saëns Symphony no 3
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.
Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, so-named as it uses a ninth century text written in Old Church Slavonic, is also known as the Slavonic Mass. Rather than a traditional sacred piece, Janáček is thought to have conceived his mass as a celebration of Slavic culture and the pan-Slavic movement that he supported.The Glagolitic Mass was first performed in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in April 1926. It is a highly original work for choir, organ and orchestra that expresses dramatic energy and tenderness in equal measure, and is recognised today as one of most significant contributions to choral music in the twentieth century.
Poulenc’s Gloria is a joyful rendering of the Gloria text from the Catholic Mass, and one of Poulenc’s most celebrated works. Scored for soprano, choir and large orchestra, it was composed in 1959 and first performed in 1961 in Boston to critical acclaim. Poulenc was known for composing music of sharp contrasts and his Gloria, which is jocund as well as solemn, is no exception.
Always Moving On is a brand new work for choir and orchestra, written by newcomer Christopher Ashley. An eight-minute orchestral march of aspiration and healing, it provides a modern twist to the familiar and popular format pioneered by Elgar and Walton in the early 20th century. The piece gives expression to the timeless virtues of hope, joy, patience and tolerance, offering respite from uncertainty and gloom.
Highgate Choral Society’s annual family carols concert has become an unmissable event, with plenty of variety and audience participation, plus your first taste of mince pies and mulled wine of the season! Early booking is advised as this is always a sell-out.
Beethoven’s great Missa Solemnis is thought to have been intended for the occasion of the installation of his friend and patron Archduke Rudolph as Archbishop of Olmütz in 1820. But from the first, Beethoven saw it as an expression of his own deep spiritual convictions and as an enduring testament to the ardour of his faith.First performed in St. Petersburg on 24 April 1824, the Missa Solemnis is regarded as a supreme achievement in choral music. Beethoven famously inscribed on the first page of the score: “From the heart – may it return – to the heart.”
Ina Boyle’s Soldiers at Peace is a short, rarely performed setting for choir and orchestra of a war sonnet by Herbert Asquith, second son of the British Prime Minister. Written during the First World War, it was performed in 1920 and enthusiastically received. Ina Boyle was Ireland’s most significant women composer before the 1950s, whose early talent was recognised by teachers including Vaughan Williams.
