The Durham Singers' summer concert spans the Atlantic with words and music from Ireland and America on the themes of love and of home. The concert includes part-songs by the Irish composer C.V. Stanford and settings of Irish poetry by the American Samuel Barber, whilst the concert title comes from Howard Skempton's bluesy setting of Yeats’s famous love poem. Augusta Read Thomas is one of America’s most popular living composers: the ladies of the choir perform her two sparkling settings of poetry by e e cummings.
Britten’s celebration of the gift of music “Hymn to St Cecilia” literally crosses the Atlantic as it was written on board ship as the composer travelled home after several years in the United States. We close the concert with traditional songs from two masters of choral arrangement, Bob Chilcott and Peter Knight, and everyone is invited to join us afterwards for refreshments.
