Mozart, Monteverdi and Mendelsohnn tonight

TONIGHT (Saturday), at St Nicolas’ Church, Cathal Garvey will conduct Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra at Newbury Choral Society’s Summer Season concert of Mozart, Monteverdi and Mendelssohn. Flautist and chairwoman of CGCO, Caroline Welsh, says that the orchestra enjoys performing choral works as it gives them the chance to experience music that they cannot usually programme. The pieces call for different approaches from singers and musicians: from the sprightly Renaissance dance of Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir, to the lyrical romanticism of Mendelssohn’s anthem Hear my Prayer, and the uncompromising power of Mozart’s famously unfinished Requiem. Soloists include Annie Gill, Colin Campbell and local soprano Claire Bessent.
The orchestra will have their chance to take centre-stage with Haydn’s Symphony No 88. Caroline says of the piece: “The smaller orchestra that we are bringing to Newbury is perfect for music of this classical period, giving a feeling of lightness and air and resembling the kind of orchestral forces Haydn would have written the piece for originally.”
Tickets, priced £15 (under 16s £5), also available from the Corn Exchange, Newbury and from choir members. For more information, visit

The concert begins at 7.30pm.