Return to The Oratory for a concert that spans nearly 300 years.
Choir conductor Paul Spicer describes the night, on 29th March and entitled Song Of The Lamb, as featuring “…an unusual and especially varied programme of seasonal rarities that includes baroque masterpieces together with some astoundingly beautiful modern works.”
These include Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater (for ten parts), written in 1757, and the most rarely performed of Johann Sebastian Bach’s motets, Fürchte dich nicht (which translates as be not afraid, or fear not), from 1726.
These will be performed alongside some astoundingly beautiful modern works: Grammy Award winning American composer Eric Whitacre’s remarkable and emotional When David Heard; British composer Kenneth Leighton’s joyful anthem Let All The World In Every Corner Sing; and two 2008 motets by Scot James MacMillan, Lux Aeterna and The Song of the Lamb.
The Choir has previously performed MacMillan’s Strathclyde Motets to great critical and public acclaim, while Paul Spicer had the honour of giving the composer his very first hearing of The Song Of The Lamb.
The programme will be performed twice by the choir, firstly in Birmingham, and then at Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire (Saturday 12th April 2014), a picturesque abbey founded in 1087 and famed for its medieval stained glass windows and large Norman tower.
“This will be a very special concert programme,” says Spicer, “a treat for lovers of the purity of Baroque and contemporary music, performed in the inspiring surroundings of Birmingham’s Italianate Oratory, and the mediaeval atmosphere of Tewkesbury Abbey.”
Tickets for the Song Of The Lamb cost £15 (£12.50) Birmingham; £16 (£14) Tewkesbury, available from 0121 705 4418 or online via: www.birmingham.bachchoir.com