King’s College Chapel, Taunton,
Sunday
14th April 2002 at 7pm
Vivaldi: Credo
Bach: Cantata 140: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Bach: Cantata 82: Ich habe genug
Handel:
Laudate pueri Dominum
Lorna
Anderson: Soprano
Nicholas
Bowditch: Tenor
Jonathan
Gunthorpe: Baritone
Graham
Caldbeck: Conductor
Tickets:
ALL
MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED
‘One
of the finest examples of mixed professional and young amateur performers in
the country’
(Taunton Times - Aug 1999)
Following
the resounding success of its concert of music by Vivaldi, Bach and Handel in
Wells Cathedral in the summer of 2000, the choir brings a further glorious
programme of masterpieces by these three musical giants to King’s College
Chapel. Devon Baroque, a period instrument orchestra recently founded by
Margaret Faultless, leader of the world-famous Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra,
joins them. Soloists include Lorna Anderson and Jonathan Gunthorpe, familiar to
audiences for their thrilling performances of Baroque music on CD and at the
Proms.
Vivaldi’s
sparkling setting of the Credo
provides an uplifting opening to the concert. Vigorous choral writing and
virtuosi string writing combine in one of the composer’s most exciting shorter
choral works. Handel’s Laudate pueri
Dominum, an exuberant psalm-setting composed at the same time as the
renowned Dixit Dominus, is a tour
de force of brilliant coloratura
writing for soprano and choir - a wonderfully sunny conclusion to the programme.
At
the heart of the concert are two of Bach’s most popular cantatas. Wachet
auf, ruft uns die Stimme contains some of Bach’s most sublime arias and
duets, framed within two powerful choral settings of Nicolai’s well-known
Advent hymn. Ich habe genug provides a more intimate atmosphere and includes the
beautiful aria Schlumert ein, and some
of Bach’s most haunting music for solo oboe. Four glorious, hugely contrasting
vocal works performed in aid of a wonderful cause!
St
Margaret’s Somerset Hospice is
a charity providing free care, support, and advice for terminally ill people. It
is the only such institution in Somerset. As well as dealing with the control of
pain and other physical symptoms, it provides emotional, spiritual and social
support for patients and their families, striving to help them live life to the
full, surrounded by love, warmth, friendship and understanding. The Hospice is
also becoming increasingly involved with bereavement counselling for children
and young adults. More than two-thirds of its required annual income must be
raised through fund raising.