2018 Concerts

Mozart C minor Mass

Saturday 3 March 2018

7.30pm

(concert ends 9.30pm approximately) 

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds

Mozart Overture to Lucio Silla (K135)

Mozart Vesperae solennes de confessore (K339)

Mozart Mass in C minor (K427)

Sarah Fox soprano

Rachel Dyson soprano

Valerie Reid mezzo-soprano

Austin Gunn tenor

Graeme Danby bass

Prometheus Orchestra

Aldeburgh Music Club

Bury Bach Choir

Edmond Fivet & Philip Reed conductors

Composed by Mozart in 1782/83 as a thanks offering for his marriage to Constanze Weber, the Mass in C minor remains the most grandiose, dramatic and demanding of Mozart’s choral works. In this single piece Mozart juxtaposes the antique, ‘learned’ style of Handel and Bach with florid Italianate arias and ensembles that would not be out of place in one of his own operas. Despite remaining unfinished, the C minor Mass is considered, with the Requiem (another incomplete work), to represent the pinnacle of Mozart’s sacred music. Moving from the solemnity of the opening Kyrie to the exuberance of the final ‘Hosanna in excelsis’, Mozart’s C minor Mass follows a journey that explores the deepest levels of human feeling.

The concert opens with Mozart’s overture to his opera Lucio Silva, followed by his Vesperae solennes de confessore. Composed for the court of Salzburg’s Prince-Archbishop in 1780, this setting comprises the appointed psalms for vespers and concludes with the Magnificat. Like the C minor Mass, the Vesperae solennes de confessore explores a wide variety of musical styles, from austere fugal writing to the radiant setting of the ‘Laudate Dominum’ for solo soprano with chorus.

Five outstanding soloists join us for this concert, including international opera stars Sarah Fox and our co-presidents Graeme Danby and Valerie Reid. We are delighted to welcome the members of the Aldeburgh Music Club and their conductor Edmond Fivet, who will be directing Mozart’s Vespers this evening, for this joint venture. 

Booking opens 4 September 2017

Tickets £25 (reserved), £20 and £15 (unreserved)

Early booking discount £1 off all tickets booked by 3 February 2018

Haydn The Creation

Saturday 2 June 2018

7.30pm

(concert ends 9.40pm approximately)

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds

Haydn The Creation

Sena Larard soprano

Christopher Turner tenor

Graeme Danby bass

Bury Bach Choir

Prometheus Orchestra

Philip Reed conductor

Composed over a period of 18 months during 1796 and 1798, and first publicly performed in 1799, Haydn's oratorio The Creation is a vivid, charming and uplifting account of the seven days of Creation as depicted in the Book of Genesis and Milton's Paradise Lost. Scored for full orchestra, chorus, and three soloists, the work begins with an orchestral depiction of chaos in the time before the world was formed. Then comes the spine tingling ‘and there was light’ (the Big Bang); more than 200 years later, the effect is still shockingly powerful and exciting. As the days of Creation unfold, Haydn finds beautiful and inventive ways of representing the newly formed world and its various creatures, before leading us to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The defining work of Haydn’s career, The Creation expresses its composer’s intense faith and reveals his compositional skill in a work of seamless perfection. The varied musical techniques Haydn uses to depict the grandeur of the first days of existence are brilliant, magnificent and colourful. Though Mozart died before Haydn composed The Creation, his much younger friend and colleague said of Haydn that he ‘alone has the secret both of making me smile and of touching my innermost soul’.

We are delighted to welcome back to Bury St Edmunds soprano Sena Larard and tenor Christopher Turner, together with Graeme Danby, for what will be an unmissable performance of Haydn’s choral masterpiece.

Early booking for reserved seats is recommended.

Booking opens 19 February 2018

Tickets £25 (reserved), £20 and £15 (unreserved)

Early booking discount £1 off all tickets booked by 5 May 2018

War and Peace

Remembrance Concert

Saturday 10 November 2018

7.30pm

(concert ends 9.20pm approximately)

The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds

Vaughan Williams       Dona Nobis Pacem

Duruflé                         Requiem

Camilla Jeppeson soprano

Valerie Reid mezzo-soprano

Tom Asher baritone

Prometheus Orchestra

Bury Bach Choir

Philip Reed conductor

The evening opens with Fanfare for St Edmundsbury, a complex and fascinating fanfare for three trumpets written by Benjamin Britten for the 1959 “Pageant of Magna Carta” in the grounds of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

To commemorate the end of the First World War one hundred years ago this weekend, the concert continues with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ epic cantata Dona Nobis Pacem in a new orchestration for small orchestra and organ by Jonathan Rathbone. Written in 1936 and inspired by the Great War, the work is an urgent plea for peace amidst the growing fears of a new war. 

The six parts, each of which includes the words “give us peace” in a variety of settings, lead us from apprehension of the coming conflict, through the violent sounds of war and the resultant misery and loss, to eventual reconciliation and optimism for future peace.

Then follows Requiem by Maurice Duruflé. Completed in 1947, as the world emerged from the Second World War, this ever popular piece for choir and two soloists fuses the spare language of plainsong with sensuous harmonies and melodies. The central Pie Jesu is electrifying and as we reach In Paradisum the sense of peace and hope expressed throughout the piece comes to a truly breathtaking conclusion.

After the performance there will be a retiring collection for SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity that provides support for those serving in the armed forces, veterans and armed forces families. Please come prepared.

Booking opens 3 September 2018

Tickets £25, £20 and £15 (all seats reserved)

Apex booking fee £1 per ticket

Early booking discount £1 off all tickets booked by 30 September 2018

A Christmas Celebration

Saturday 15 December 2018

7.30pm

(ends 9.15pm approximately)

The Church of St Peter and St Paul, Lavenham

Valerie Reid mezzo-soprano

Graeme Danby bass

Jill Burrows reader

James Recknell organ / piano

Bury Bach Choir

Philip Reed conductor

Get Christmas off to a joyful start by joining us for a feast of Christmas music in the beautiful parish church at Lavenham. This concert is always a highlight of the Christmas season! We will be singing a variety of seasonal music, mixing the familiar with some less-known pieces, and including a series of Christmas readings. 

We are delighted that this year our co-Presidents Graeme Danby and Valerie Reid – both distinguished opera singers with international careers – will again be performing with us. It’ll be a great evening!

Bring the family and join in with your favourite carols before enjoying mince pies and mulled wine.

Ticket price include refreshments.

Booking opens 3 September 2018

Tickets £15 (all unreserved), under-21s half price

Early booking discount £1 off all adult tickets booked by 31 October 2018