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Simon Lee, Musical Director
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Welcome to our new season! The singers began rehearsing last week and we have three exciting and varied programmes for you, celebrating different aspects of the choral repertoire.
For our first concert of the season we are delighted to be returning to the glorious acoustic of St. Ann’s Battlefield to perform a programme inspired by the Psalms of David. The music is drawn from across the ages including works by John Blow, Herbert Howells, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Orlando Gibbons. At the heart of the programme is Amy Beach’s rarely heard motet, ‘Help Us, O God’. This multi-movement work, written in 1903 as her popularity was increasing shows her many influences as well as the lyricism for which she would be remembered. Join us on Sunday 13th November at 7:30pm for what promises to be an uplifting evening of music making. Tickets available from our website https://www.cappellanewcastle.org.uk/dbpage.php?pg=view&dbase=events&id=154747 (early bird discount before 31 October), from members or at the door.
In the Spring, we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd in a programme where his music will be paired with that of his successor as Master of the Queen’s Music, Benjamin Britten. We are including sacred and secular works by both composers in a feast of English choral music at Jesmond United Reformed Church on Saturday 25th March at 7:30pm.
Our final concert of the year in June 2023 explores some of the ways that choral composers have responded to the perennial human experience of war and conflict. Much of the content within this programme is inspired by the loss of life during the Great War with music by Lilli Boulanger, Arthur Butterworth and Ben Parry. Alongside this, we’ll be performing music from earlier periods including Jannequin’s La Guerre, a dramatic, fiery choral re-enactment of the French King Francis I’s victory over Swiss mercenary forces at the Battle of Marignano in 1515. More details about this concert will be released in due course.
We hope that you will join us for at least one of these concerts, but if you would like to come and see how we work, we are holding an open rehearsal on 28th September. Anyone who is interested in joining the choir is warmly invited to attend. Please let us know if you are coming by emailing: secretary@cappellanewcastle.org.uk so that we have copies of music for you! |
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