KES
Parry: Bl &t Pair of Sirens
Elgar: Sea'Pictures, The Music Makers
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music,
The Lark Ascending
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
Susanna Spicer: Mezzo-soprano
Brandenburg Sinfonia
Saturday
~ Vivace
Chorus
1o’th March 2007
7.30pm Guildford Cathedral
Tickets - £20, £15, £10, Students £5
Tourist Information 01483 444334
PTE-COTICETt Ta"(
6.3opm Chapte‘r House
Michael Taylor 07958 519 741
Vivace Chorus was formerly Guildford Philharmonic Choir
www.VivaceChorus.org
Registered Charity No 1026337
]
This concert presents popular classical music of the late 19th/early 20th century by British
composers, including two major works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams.
The concert opens with Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens, a setting of a poem by John Milton
which exalts the twin muses of Voice and Verse. Written in 1887 and dedicated to
Stanford, its opening pages have been described as the most thrilling in all English music.
This is followed by Elgar’s Sea Pictures. This is a setting of five poems
for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, of which the best-known is Where
Corals Lie. Our soloist is Susanna Spicer, a highly experienced concert
singer whose solo engagements have included appearances under the
batons of Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, David Willcocks, Trevor Pinnock
and John Eliot Gardiner.
Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music was written as a tribute to Sir Henry Wood and
performed in 1938 at the Royal Albert Hall by 16 of the best singers of the era, including
such greats as Isobel Baillie and Heddle Nash. Vaughan Williams wrote that "for
subsequent performances when the above singers may not be available, other singers will
have to take their places". On this occasion, the "other singers" will be the Vivace Chorus.
In Elgar’s The Music Makers, the performers are instructed to sing and play "as if you
were all in dreamland". [Our conductor says don’t worry, this will be a committed
performance!] Written in 1912, Elgar quotes from many of his earlier works, and you will
enjoy spotting snatches of the Enigma Variations, Gerontius, Sea Pictures, the violin
concerto, two symphonies, and even Rule Britannia — this is a real feast of Elgar's music.
All ticket-holders are invited to a free pre-concert talk at 6.30pm in The Chapter House,
given by Martin Hall. You can reserve your concert seats prior to the talk. Please order
your interval drinks on arrival at the concert.
A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY: Saturday 19th May 2007 at Guildford Cathedral
“......and all that JAZZ"
Bob Chilcott: A Little Jazz Mass
John Rutter: Glotia
]
) ’
.
Jazz meets the choral tradition in this scintillating
mix of styles. Both Bob Chilcott and Will Todd
(now a local Guildford composer) have created
fantastically innovative Masses for choir and jazz
Bethany Halliday (Soprano)
Will Todd's highly appealing church anthems and
Will Todd (piano)
a special set for jazz trio alone. It should be a
The Will Todd Jazz Band
superb evening!
Three
Mass in Blue,
Will Todd: Anthems,
A Jazz Set
ever-popular
;4 1, the mix is John Rutter's
i
.
Gloria. The programme is filled with some of
All information is correct on going to press, but please check our website (www.vivacechorus.org)
in case of any last-minute changes.
$
There is ramped access into the Cathedral via the west door, and to the Refectory Restaurant and
toilet facilities from a clearly marked passage to the University beside the Cathedral Offices. A few
wheelchairs are available within the Cathedral.