World-class choral feast ahead for Newbury
Newbury Spring Festival, famed for its world-class classical music and orchestral performances, this year also promises some wonderful choral delights. The festival opens on Saturday, May 7, at St Nicolas Church, with the Newbury Spring Festival Chorus returning after an enforced three-year break with Stephen Barlow conducting masterpieces by Mozart, culminating in the Coronation Mass.
In this opening night concert, delayed from 2020, he is joined by the world-renowned London Mozart Players and a stellar cast of young soloists is led by Sophie Bevan. Sophie Bevan, who is amongst Britain’s finest sopranos will make a welcome return to the Festival, following her memorable appearance at closing night of 2019. Ema Nikolovska made a remarkable Festival debut in September 2021 and will perform Ah lo prevedi as part of the opening night’s all-Mozart programme.
Festival director Mark Eynon says: “I am so proud of this year’s programme of choral music which brings together so many world class choirs and choral groups, and I am especially looking forward to the return of our own Festival Chorus for what promises to be a very special opening concert.”
In a change to the printed festival guide, the Festival Service now takes place on the evening of Sunday, May 8 at St Johns Church and features the acclaimed Carice Singers. Returning after their appearance at the September Festival, the Carice Singers continue to emerge as one of the most distinctive vocal ensembles in the UK, defined by their unique sound and imaginative choice of repertoire.
The choir will be singing the Vaughan Williams Mass in G as part of the festival’s celebration of Vaughan Williams 150th Anniversary. The Mass setting will be paired with an Introit from Tallis and the anthem “A Hymne to Christ” written by Imogen Holst, one of Vaughan Williams pupils.
Those interested in finding out more on Vaughan Williams and his role in introducing folk song to the English Hymnal can join professor Jeremy Summerly for a talk, From Hedgerow to Pew at St George’s Church on Thursday, May 12.
Later in the Festival, VOCES8 will perform to a sold out audience on Wednesday 18th May at St Martin’s Church at East Woodhay. Their special programme celebrates their 15th anniversary.
Touring extensively, the group performs repertoire from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary commissions and arrangement. The choral works in their varied programme include music by Monteverdi Gjeilo, Britten, Gibbons, Sibelius and Pärt and accompanies the ensemble’s new compendium album release.
Towards the end of the Festival a performance from The Sixteen at Douai Abbey on Friday, May 20 will be a particular highlight. They return to the festival following their cancelled 2020 performance, with their Choral Pilgrimage focussing on Hubert Parry’s Songs of Farewell, which rank among some of the finest choral works ever written.
Deeply affected by the First World War, with constant news of many of his pupils being killed in action, Parry sought poetry that would reflect not only peace and unity and that search for a better world but also an escape from the horrors of war.
Three short works by the poet and lutenist Campion, coupled with medieval carols which explore patriotic ceremony provide a suitable variety of sound worlds to serve as an introduction for the rich sonority of Parry’s songs.