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Ten Years with Bach and Haydn
20 November 2017
Having completed our Viva Italia! series of concerts (Verdi Requiem,
Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Montevedi Vespers), and before we
start out Wond’rous Machine! series (beginning with Mahler’s
Resurrection Symphony, taking in concerts of music from the UK and
US, and another of French music, before culminating in a programme
of Sir C. Hubert H. Parry’s works, upon the centenary of his death),
the choir took the opportunity to reprise the concert they gave
almost ten years ago to the day, our first concert with Musical
Director Lee Dunleavy.
Mezzo Kitty Whately in Haydn's Agnus Dei
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Over these ten years Lee has worked with the choir in concert of
music by mainstream composers including Bach (Cantatas, Magnificat,
Mass in B minor, St John Passion, St Matthew Passion), Beethoven
(Choral Symphony), Britten (A Ceremony of Carols, Saint
Nicolas), Duruflé (Requiem), Fauré (Requiem), Handel (Messiah), Haydn (‘Great’
Organ Solo Mass, Nelson Mass, St Nicholas Mass), Monteverdi
(Vespers), Mozart (‘Great’ Mass in C minor, Requiem), Orff (Carmina
Burana), Poulenc (Gloria), Rachmaninov (Vespers), Rossini (Petite Messe Solennelle), Rutter (Gloria, Magnificat), Vaughan Williams (A
Sea Symphony, Five Mystical Songs), Verdi (Requiem). He has also
conducted the choir in première performances of a number of major
works, not least four choral-orchestral works by David Conte
(September Sun), Steve Dobrogosz (My Rose: a Shakespeare Oratorio),
Dan Forrest (in paradisum…), and Craig Phillips (Dies gratiæ), and
carols by four of his predecessors as Musical Director: John
Bertalot, Stephen Cleobury, Simon Johnson, and Michael Nicholas.
Bach Magnificat reached new heights for
the Trumpets
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The choir have toured both locally and abroad, performing in venues
including the Royal Albert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral, Gloucester
Cathedral, Notre Dame in Paris, the Papal Basilica in Rome, and St
Mark’s Venice. In addition they have made no fewer than four
commercial recordings: Congaudeat!
(2010), I was glad!
(2012), Be
Merry! (2014), and Requiem Reflections
(2017).
Haydn's Nelson Mass in Full Flight
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Last Saturday’s concert (18 November 2017) was an exact reprise of
Lee’s first concert with the choir on 17 November 2007. Beginning
with Bach’s Magnificat, and ending with Haydn’s Nelson Mass, with
Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in the middle. The Bach Camerata were
on superb form, and our soloists – Katherine Crompton (who also sang
in the 2007 concert), Kitty Whately, Nathan Vale, Toby Girling, and
Rachel Bedford – performed with incredible aplomb. It was a superb
way to mark ten incredible years.We offer grateful thanks to
Silvio Sicignano for the use of his superb photographs of the
concert.
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