The Lord Mayor of Exeter’s Charity Concert
Exeter Festival Chorus is delighted to announce The Lord Mayor of Exeter’s Charity Concert: Monteverdi’s Vespers 1610 with The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, VOCES8 and Schola Exe on Saturday 14 July at Exeter Cathedral.
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Exeter’s charity concert sparkles into life with the virtuoso period instrument group, The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble, and the vocal ensemble, VOCES8. Completing the line-up are Schola Exe, a choir of Devon’s young voices, and Exeter Festival Chorus itself. After the concert there will be a collection for the Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal.
Chosen as the centrepiece of Exeter Festival Chorus’ 25th Anniversary Celebrations, The Vespers of 1610, with sackbuts and cornetts, will transport you straight to St Mark's Basilica, Venice. With its towering magnificence and rhythmic vivacity, interwoven with moments of tender reverence, this work is the ultimate showcase of the Venetian renaissance.
Accompanying the choir for this concert, The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble is a virtuoso period instrument group with a host of distinguished recordings to its name. As well as giving regular recitals in its own right, ECSE collaborates with many leading vocal ensembles and is a regular at major festivals across Europe. ECSE celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2018 with a new solo CD on the Resonus label and a commission by Andrew Keeling to be premièred at the Purbeck Arts Week. 2018 also includes an autumn gala recital at Southampton's Turner Sims concert hall to be broadcast by BBC Radio 3.
The chorus will be singing with the celebrated British vocal ensemble VOCES8. Touring extensively throughout Europe, North America and Asia, the group performs repertoire from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary commissions and arrangements; versatility and a celebration of diverse musical expression are central to the ensemble’s performance ethos. With an ongoing programme of recordings and live broadcasts, VOCES8 is heard regularly on international television and radio. The ensemble is a Decca Classics artist and has released acclaimed recordings that have been at the top of the classical charts.
Schola Exe is the Devon County Senior Choir for girls aged 13 – 18 and boys with unchanged voices from the age of 13. This was established in 2007 by Rachel Smith as part of the Chorister Outreach Project which seeks to give children across Devon high quality experiences of singing. Rachel still conducts the choir and is also Head of Junior Music at the Maynard School, Exeter. Schola Exe has participated in many concerts in Exeter Cathedral including Faure’s Requiem, Britten's St Nicolas and Britten's War Requiem. It has also performed with English Touring Opera, Exeter Philharmonic Choir and Exeter Cathedral Choir.
Founded in 1993, Exeter Festival Chorus has gained a reputation as one of the liveliest and most adventurous choirs in the South West. Under the inspired and dynamic musical direction of Nigel Perrin (formerly the ‘high voice’ of the original King’s Singers), this choir of around 75 singers has become one of the region’s most versatile and highly acclaimed choral groups. It performs with professional orchestras and soloists and aims to bring choral music of the highest quality to its audiences, expanding musical boundaries for singers and listeners alike.
In 2018, the chorus will also be performing with Roderick Williams, Peter Adcock and The Band of HM Royal Marines, Lympstone, in two further spectacular concerts in the latter half of the year. Prepare to be entertained by ambitious and diverse programming which will include works by Bach, Goodall, Parry, Willcocks and more.
• Saturday 14 July 2018 7.30pm Exeter Cathedral
Monteverdi Vespers (1610) Exeter Festival Chorus, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, VOCES8 & Schola Exe
• Saturday 20 October 2018 Sidmouth Parish Church
An Evening with JS Bach: Choral Motets and Keyboard Suites
Exeter Festival Chorus with Peter Adcock, piano
• Saturday 15 December 2018 7.30pm Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Festival Chorus & The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, Lympstone, with guest artist Roderick Williams, baritone
The Anniversary Brochure and tickets for all 2018 concerts are available through http://www.exeterfestivalchorus.org.uk/
