This could be your last chance to enjoy the wonderful acoustic of the neo-Gothic Chapel of All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney (AL2 1AF), as the Centre is due to close later this year. Come and hear masterpieces of the English Renaissance by Byrd, Gibbons, Ramsey and Tye, and the monumental 19-part O bone Jesu by the Scot Robert Carver. 7.30pm, tickets on the door
This was the original idea behind the early music programme Intimations of Mortality. In all the pieces chosen, either the words or the music were composed in the face of imminent death or in the hope of eternal life, but far from making for a miserable evening, the resultant music is sublime, for these works were written in the 16th and 17th centuries in a time of great religious faith. This is a rare opportunity to hear some spectacular pieces, large in scale both in the number of voices and in length compared to most works of this period.
The Chapel of the Pastoral Centre at London Colney will provide a sumptuous acoustic for this programme, and with the Centre due to close at the end of this year, this may be one of the last opportunities to enjoy such ethereally beautiful music in this special venue.
For full details see our Concerts page
See the Concerts page for full details of our next concert, Intimations of Mortality, on 12 March 2011 in the resonant acoustic of the Chapel at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, AL2 1AF
Choir jazz things up for church (Herts Advertiser 21 Jan 2011)
TOP quality jazz events are a rarity in St Albans, but if the size of the audience at St Saviour’s Church on Saturday is anything to go by, there is clearly an audience for them. This concert was a rare combination of a choir and fine jazz musicians – in this case the St Albans Chamber Choir, the Will Todd Trio and local saxophonist David Wigram together with jazz singer Bethany Halliday. Under musical director John Gibbons, the choir worked superbly with the musicians and Bethany Halliday to produce a remarkable musical event focused on Todd’s stunning Mass in Blue. As one of the city’s most respected musicians commented at the end of the performance, “This could well be the highlight of the year”, and if the size and reaction of the audience are anything to go by, other groups have been set an extremely high standard for the future.
A capacity audience at St Saviour’s enjoyed an exciting evening of jazz-inspired music on Saturday 15 January 2011. Rutter’s Birthday Madrigals and Karl Jenkins’ A Parliament of Owls in the first half went down well, but it was Will Todd’s Mass in Blue that really seized the imagination of performers and listeners alike. This upbeat setting of the Latin mass is a brilliant blend of driving jazz grooves and clear, strong, choral writing, and the presence of Will Todd himself with his Trio, local saxophonist David Wigram and the thrilling young soprano soloist Bethany Halliday made this an evening to remember.
Banish those winter blues with a foot-stomping concert of jazz-inspired choral music. Will Todd‘s Mass in Blue combines driving jazz rhythms with strong choral writing and a soaring soprano soloist, the virtuoso Bethany Halliday. Karl Jenkins’s A Parliament of Owls is full of catchy melodies and exciting percussion, and John Rutter‘s Birthday Madrigals are a fitting tribute to the great jazz pianist George Shearing.
With the Will Todd Trio, Will Todd piano Conductor John Gibbons
Saturday 15 January 2011 at 7.30pm St Savour’s Church, Sandpit Lane
Listen to these excerpts:
http://www.willtodd.com/audio/MassinBlue-KyrieCliphi.mp3
http://www.willtodd.com/audio/MassinBlue-CredoCliphi.mp3
http://www.willtodd.com/audio/MassinBlue-SanctusCliphi.mp3
http://www.willtodd.com/audio/MassinBlue-BenedictusCliphi.mp3
Bethany Halliday, sporano
Bethany Halliday is best known for her recording of Will Todd’s Mass in Blue which was released on the Signum Classics label in 2006. Described as ‘An addictive listen’ by the Daily Express, Bethany premiered Mass in Blue at The Cambridge Corn Exchange in 2003 and has continued to perform the work frequently since that time. Venues have included the St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London Barbican, The Sage Gateshead, Durham Cathedral, Snape Maltings, Wakefield Cathedral, and Bethany will be performing this work again with St Albans Chamber Choir and the Will Todd Trio on 15 January 2011 at St Saviour’s Church, St Albans
Bethany enjoys a wide range of performing throughout the UK including opera, oratorio and jazz. She was awarded the English National Opera Lillian Baylis Bursary for young singers and also won the William Cox memorial scholarship. Bethany has recently been performing with the Royal Opera House, Opera Genesis workshopping a new opera.
Late but great for choir’s concert (Herts Advertiser 25 November 2011)
WHO would turn out on a cold, dank November evening to sit in a church listening to music written by deceased composers in honour of the dead? Well, last Saturday, the nave of St Peter’s Church was packed with people doing just that. In fact, they had come to hear St Albans Chamber Choir give their account of masterpieces by J.S. Bach, John Ireland and Herbert Howells. Supported by music director John Gibbons, and local organist Alex Flood, it proved to be an evening of old favourites for the ecclesiastical cognoscenti, and a splendid introduction to some of the finest British sacred music of the twentieth century for the rest of the audience.
St Albans Chamber Choir returns for its 52nd season in September.
English music is particularly strongly represented this season. We open with two beautiful works by Herbert Howells in a programme on the theme of Remembrance (November 20th 2010). The young English composer Will Todd’s jazz-inspired Mass in Blue (January 15th 2011) is a complete contrast and has already become a firm favourite with audiences and performers alike. The Choir returns to more familiar ground with a programme of a cappella early English music in the beautiful chapel at All Saints (March 12th 2011), before joining with the Wormser Kantorei for Ralph Vaughan Williams’s choral symphonic masterpiece, A Sea Symphony (April 30th 2011). The season ends with the watery theme continuing in Water, water everywhere (July 2nd 2011), which features the very popular American composer Eric Whitacre among British contributors.
Tickets are available from the Ticket Secretary on 0845 658 8982 (local call rate) or by e-mailing “tickets”
Last week the BBC announced the winners of the BBC Performing Arts Fund 2009 Choral Ambition scheme via the BBC Press Office.
Please follow the link below to see the press release:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/01_january/29/performing.shtml
Please note, this information is also available on the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/performingartsfund/choral_ambition/
