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| A five day feast of choral music Tickets are now on general sale for the Southern Cathedrals Festival 2009, the popular annual five day festival of choral music featuring the choirs of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester Cathedrals and guest performers. Hosted this year by Salisbury Cathedral from 15 - 19 July and under the dynamic leadership of David Halls, Director of Music, it celebrates the anniversaries of four musical giants - Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Purcell - and includes fourteen concerts, nine services, a choral masterclass and world premières by Barry Ferguson and Will Todd. David Halls is very much looking forward to the Festival. "My colleagues at Chichester and Winchester have helped me put together a programme to deliver a Festival which exudes energy and develops ideas first introduced in Salisbury three years ago including showcasing the excellence of choral singing found in the city, young musicians and short late evening concerts. "But it is the daily services, which have been central to the Anglican church for centuries, which remain at the heart of the Southern Cathedrals Festival and these services and three major concerts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are shared amongst the three cathedrals' boys' choirs and the girl choristers of Salisbury & Winchester. The final concert on Saturday evening culminates in a performance of Mozart's sublime Mass in C minor with Sarum Orchestra." The opening night concert is given by Sarum Voices, one of the South of England's most exciting choirs comprising mainly ex-cathedral choristers. Directed by Ben Lamb, they perform motets by Bach followed by Will Todd's Mass in Blue with jazz trio, and Todd himself on piano. The Bishop of Salisbury, Dr David Stancliffe, directs his period instrument ensemble and singers in 'Bach the Master' and Andrew Mackay directs Sarum Consort, one of the finest chamber groups specialising in the music of the Italian Renaissance. Both these concerts take place in the warm acoustic of St Thomas's Church, Salisbury. Appearing in its first SCF is Salisbury Cathedral Junior Choir, the Cathedral's non-auditioned choir open to boys and girls in school years 4-8. They perform their own concert 'Outreach!' and join the boy choristers from Chichester and Salisbury Cathedrals in an exhilarating Choral Masterclass with Simon Lole, one of the country's leading choir trainers. Introduced in SCF 2006 and back by popular request, the Festival's innovative 'Youth in Music' concert mini-series showcases the talents of former pupils of Salisbury Cathedral School who are planning careers as professional musicians. This year there are recitals on the piano, violin and oboe. In another initiative, the Cathedral's musicians are joined by pianists John Reid and Ben Lamb for three short evening concerts of 'Candlelit Bach', when selections from Bach's incomparable 48 Preludes and Fugues are performed on the Cathedral's Blűthner grand piano. The Cathedral's famous Father Willis organ is literally the centre of attention when James Lancelot, Director of Music at Durham Cathedral, gives the Festival organ recital performing works by Bach, Haydn, Langlais, Mendelssohn and Vierne, all shown on a 'big screen' situated in the front of the main nave. From David Halls' perspective, "The audience is going to hear one great work after another. The atmospheric Friday night concert 'Praise the Lord' features the two Festival premières – a setting of Psalm 146 by Will Todd and Love makes one fit for any work – Proverb for two violins and organ by Barry Ferguson. "And in the Saturday night concert, the choirs will be celebrating superb music by Handel, Purcell and Mozart. From Bach to Will Todd, chamber music to marvellous large-scale works, this will be music-making of the highest quality." There will be a Festival Club for the duration of SCF 2009 offering a friendly environment for relaxation between events and up to 10.30pm, with catering by Milburns Restaurants. In addition a number of gardens in The Close will be open to SCF programme book holders. The Festival opens at 4.30pm on Wednesday 15 July with Choral Evensong sung by Salisbury's girl choristers with Martin Ings on trumpet and Daniel Cook on organ. Booking brochures with full programme details can be downloaded from southerncathedralsfestival.org.uk or obtained from the Department of Liturgy & Music, Salisbury Cathedral, 33 The Close, Salisbury SP1 2EJ. Tickets for concerts are available from Salisbury Playhouse box office or from Monday 13 July at the Southern Cathedrals Festival box office at The Ladywell Kiosk, The Close, Salisbury (cash/cheques only). Entry to all services is free. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |