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Saturday 16 November 2013

7.30 pm

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds

Britten:   St Nicolas

               Simple Symphony

               Hymn to the Virgin

               Te Deum in C major

Philip Salmon tenor 

Bury Bach Choir

Boy Choristers of St Edmundsbury Cathedral

                                                            (director: James Thomas)

Girl Choristers of the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook

                                                            (director: William Saunders)

Prometheus Orchestra

Philip Reed conductor

22 November 2013 marks the centenary of Suffolk-born composer Benjamin Britten’s birth. The Bury Bach Choir is joined by choristers from St Edmundsbury Cathedral and the Royal Hospital School, together with the Prometheus Orchestra, for a celebratory performance of Britten’s cantata St Nicolas. Composed in 1948 for Lancing College (Peter Pears’s old school), St Nicolas explores the saint’s life through music that is attractive, moving and dramatic. The audience even gets to take part!

The programme also includes two of his most popular youthful pieces – the Simple Symphony, based on childhood compositions, and Hymn to the Virgin, written in his final term at school – and a rare performance of the orchestral version of his powerful Te Deum in C major. 

This concert forms part of the Benjamin Britten Centenary festival in Bury St Edmunds, in association with St Edmundsbury Cathedral. The cathedral is presenting a Britten Festival Weekend on 1 – 3 November 2013, full details of which are available at stedscathedral.co.uk

Ticket prices £20 and £16 reserved, £12 unreserved