Previous Seasons

Summer 2008

Thursday 10 July, 7.30pm
Guildhall, Gresham Street, EC2

Haydn - The Creation (sung in English)
with Counterpoint period instrumental ensemble

During his visits to London in the 1790s Haydn was greatly impressed by the oratorios of Handel and resolved to emulate his example. The words of The Creation, derived from the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost, describe the successive creation of the universe, the Earth and its inhabitants and finally, Adam and Eve. There are fine solo arias and joyful Handelian choruses of praise and thanksgiving, while Haydn’s orchestration vividly depicts the wonders of the natural world. The Creation represents Haydn at his finest and its continuing popularity is well deserved.

This concert was a joint promotion with the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London in aid of their projects to assist and educate disadvantaged Londoners.
Sponsored by SES ASTRA UK.

Spring 2008

Thursday 20 March 2008, 8.00pm
Barbican Hall, Silk Street, EC2

Beethoven – Mass in D (Missa Solemnis)

with Canticum
and the English Chamber Orchestra

Beethoven himself regarded his monumental setting of the Latin Mass as his greatest work. Completed in 1823, it is one of the supreme choral masterpieces, combining awe-inspiring grandeur with a fervent spiritual intensity. Beethoven's musical interpretation of the text stretches its performers to the limit as he seeks to give the deepest expression to every word, within the architectural structure of the whole. The score bears the heading "From the heart – may it go to the heart".

Autumn 2007

Wednesday 31 October, 8.00pm
St Columba's Church, Pont Street, SW1

Britten – St Nicolas
Elgar – Serenade for Strings
Elgar – Give unto the Lord

with Andrew O'Brien (tenor)
and Orchestra

St Nicolas, the patron saint of children, was the fourth-century Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. Britten's engaging cantata, composed in 1948, celebrates the saint's 'piety and marvellous works'. In recounting the story of his life from birth to death, it includes such legendary episodes as his calming of a storm at sea and restoring three young boys to life. Andrew O'Brien, who sings the role of Nicolas, is Holy Trinity's Director of Music.

2007 is The Year of Elgar, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. Elgar's Serenade was one of his earliest works to become well known, but is typical of the composer in its Englishness. The grand ceremonial anthem Give Unto the Lord was commissioned for a festival at St Paul's Cathedral in 1914; appropriately, it concludes with a prayer for the blessing of peace.