2020 and 2021 Concerts

Verdi Requiem

Saturday 7 March 2020

7.30pm

(ends 9.00pm approximately)

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds

Sarah Fox soprano                             

Valerie Reid mezzo-soprano                   

Alexander James Edwards tenor             

Tom Asher bass             

Prometheus Orchestra

Bury Bach Choir       

Philip Reed conductor 

In 1874, Giuseppe Verdi was Italy’s most celebrated opera composer at the height of his powers, feted throughout Europe, each new stage work eagerly awaited.

Inspired by the death of the great Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi (who, famously, was sceptical of religious belief) reworked the ‘Libera me’ he had written for a proposed multi-author Requiem in honour of Rossini and expanded on it to complete a full setting of the Roman Catholic requiem mass.

Verdi’s much loved Messa da Requiem combines religious grandeur with operatic drama and passion in music that expresses a vast range of emotions – sorrow, consolation, fear, hope, penitence and joy – delivered by a quartet of soloists, and large chorus and orchestra. From the terror of the ‘Dies Irae’ with its threatening solo bass drum, to the sorrow of the ‘Lacrimosa’ and the desperation of the ‘Libera me’, Verdi encompasses the human experience in the face of mortality. His Requiem is a work of universal appeal, full of memorable melodies and thrilling choruses that will keep you riveted to your seat.

This evening’s line up of soloists brings together some truly remarkable talents. You are urged to book early for the best reserved seats, and to pre-book and arrive early for the best unreserved seats.

Booking opens 2 September 2019

Tickets £27 (reserved), £22 and £17 (unreserved)

Early booking discount £1 off all tickets booked by 31 December 2019         

Fauré Requiem

Saturday 6 November 2021

7.30pm

(ends 9.20pm approximately)

The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds

Alice Dix soprano

Ben Noble baritone       

Richard Cook organ

Anne Reece piano

Bury Bach Choir       

Philip Reed conductor

In this ‘Welcome Back’ concert, the Bury Bach Choir performs a mixed programme of sacred and secular music spanning 500 years, from the leading Tudor composer Thomas Tallis, through works by Mozart, Bruckner and Elgar, right up to the present day with music by Tavener and James MacMillan. Many of these pieces are among the choir’s favourites.

The main work to be featured is Fauré’s Requiem, an intimate and gentle response to the Latin Mass quite unlike those of Berlioz or Verdi. Consolation in bereavement is the composer’s goal in what has become his most popular work.

The programme, with its eternal themes of love, loss, consolation, and renewal, will resonate with listeners and performers alike, as we reflect on the period we have just lived through and begin to resume our usual activities.

All seats reserved

Booking opens 20 September 2021

Tickets £25, £20 and £15, plus Apex booking fee £1.50

Early booking discount £1 off all tickets booked by 30 September 2021