A Choral Celebration

Our centenary season kicks off with a feast of celebratory music, and pieces connected with the choir. It doesn’t get more triumphant than Handel’s Coronation Anthems, with the grandeur of Zadok the Priest and the majestic The King Shall Rejoice. Hubert Parry’s grand anthem Blest pair of sirens was commissioned by Stanford for the Bach Choir and premiered in 1887 alongside Berlioz’s Te Deum. Although not Berlioz’s, two settings of the Te Deum text will feature in this concert. The first is Festival Te Deum by former Musical Director Robin Wells, which was written for the Choral Society’s 75th anniversary. The choir’s new President, Graham Ross, has been commissioned to write his own setting of the Te Deum, which will receive its premiere in this concert, alongside his arrangement of Abide with me. The newly-knighted Sir John Rutter’s Look at the world completes this festival programme.