SPRING CONCERT MAY 17 PRESENTS CHORAL MUSIC OF ENGLAND
--"From the White Cliffs of Dover"-
THE WEST VILLAGE CHORALE, marking its 37th season, presents its spring concert
on Saturday, May 17, 8 pm., at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson
Street, one block south of Christopher Street in the Village. Michael Conley,
conductor; Elena Belli, piano. Tickets $20; seniors and students $15. For advance
sale, visit www.westvillagechorale.org on the Internet. Public Info
tape: (212) 517-1776.
Entitled "From the White Cliffs of Dover," the program offers a selection of choral gems by a range of splendid British composers. At its center is Benjamin Britten's magically transparent Hymn to St. Cecilia (1942), with words by W.H. Auden, along with a 1939 Britten rarity, Advance Democracy, an urgent civic appeal composed at the eve of World War II.
Another prominent feature will be an excerpt from The Path of Miracles (2005)
by Joby Talbot, which had its U.S.
premiere in November 2007 as part of WNYC Radio's New Sounds Live concert series.
Talbot's works for the concert hall, stage, television, and cinema have made
him one of England's top contemporary composers.
The music of another living composer, the renowned John Rutter, will be represented by his Gaelic Blessing (1978) and Two Songs From Five Childhood Lyrics (1974).
From the Renaissance and Baroque periods of early music will be works by William Byrd ("Sing We Merrily Unto God"), Thomas Tallis ("Gloria Patri"), and Henry Purcell ("Hear My Prayer, O Lord," edited by Rutter). A scene from Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance caps a Victorian set by Charles Hubert H. Parry ("My Soul, There Is a Country") and Charles Villiers Stanford ("Beati quorum via").
The West Village Chorale's musical tour through England follows our excursions in past years to explore the choral works of France, Germany, and the American West, all from our base at St. Luke's. Future survey destinations for the independent, avocational ensemble include Scandinavia and the American South!