Chelmsford Singers’ Autumn concert will be on SUNDAY, 17th November, at Chelmsford Cathedral, starting at 7pm.
Tickets are £20, with under 16s free. Refreshments will be served. Doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are available from chelmsfordsingers.co.uk.
Ably conducted by James Davy, the Chelmsford Singers make a welcome return to Chelmsford Cathedral for a concert to celebrate the centenary of the Romantic composer Charles Villiers Stanford, perhaps the most significant choral composer of the early 20th century. This promises to be a glorious celebration of Charles Stanford and his beautiful music, tuneful, dramatic, and moving in turn.
Following a thrilling performance of Stanford’s Songs of the Fleet in Maldon in July, the Singers present a mixed programme of familiar and rarely-heard works. The unaccompanied motets (Coelos ascendit hodie, Justorum animae, Beati quorum via) feature alongside the dramatic WWI-era For Lo, I raise up. Some of Stanford’s Bible Songs for solo voice are followed by their companion anthems.
The programme reaches its climax with the Elegiac Ode, a large-scale setting of Walt Whitman’s elegy on the death of Abraham Lincoln. Stanford’s music illuminates Whitman’s profound text with colour and lyricism, always keeping the mood light in a work on a symphonic scale. Written 140 years ago for the Norfolk and Norwich festival, the Ode features soprano and baritone soloists and choir; soloists will be Jessica Edom-Carey and Theo Perry, and all will be accompanied by Tim Carey (piano); the cathedral organ will feature in the sacred works, played by William Saunders.
James Davy has been director of The Chelmsford Singers since 2012 when he was appointed Director of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral and is currently pursuing a freelance career as an organist and conductor across East Anglia.
The Chelmsford Singers have been engaged in quality music making since 1927.
