Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Graham Ross director
Bethlehem Star
Graham Ross and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge return to Leamington Music with Bethlehem Star, a sumptuous festive programme of carols and motets including choral works by Rheinberger, Arvo Pärt, Reena Esmail, James Whitbourn, Cecilia MacDowall, Jonathan Dove, and Christmas’s favourite choral composer, Clare College alumnus John Rutter.
What better delight could there be at Christmas than wonderful choral music in St Mary’s with our traditional mulled wine and mince pies included?
The finer details…
‘Behind the Music’ FREE pre-concert talk: 6.45pm
Interval: 20 mins
Estimated finish: 9.30pm
Tickets
Front Nave: £28 full price | £3 child/student
Middle Nave: £18 full price | £9 under-35s | £3 child/student
Sides: £13 full price | £3 child/student
The Binchois Consort
Matthew Farrell and Tom Lilburn altos
Dominic Bland, Tom Castle, Mark Dobell and George Pooley tenors
Andrew Kirkman director | Jamie Savan slide trumpet
‘In the Midst of Death there is Life’:
Celebrating 550 years of the Afterlife of Guillaume Du Fay
The 550th anniversary of the death of Franco-Flemish composer Guillaume Du Fay (the dominant figure in European music of the second half of the 15th century) provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the composer’s virtuosic contribution to music. Jamie Savan’s addition of the slide trumpet to the line-up brings a local connection too, as some of the earliest evidence of the instrument relates to trumpeters in the service of the Earl of Warwick.
The finer details…
‘Behind the Music’ FREE pre-concert talk: 7.45pm
Interval: None
Estimated finish: 9.45pm
Tickets
Front Nave: £28 full price | £3 child/student
Middle Nave: £18 full price | £9 under-35s | £3 child/student
Sides: £13 full price | £3 child/student
The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park director, Guy James and Alasdair Austin countertenors
Joseph Wicks and Josh Cooter tenors, Michael Craddock baritone
Queen of Hearts
A selection of Motets and Chansons from the French Court, focusing on European Queens: Anne of Brittany, Margaret of Austria, Anne Boleyn, and Mary Tudor. Reflecting on these earthly regencies, devotional motets for the Queen of Heaven are interwoven with texts from the Song of Songs, appropriated to venerate the Blessed Virgin, alongside specially written chansons and motets commemorating key moments in the reign of Europe’s Queens. Music by Brumel, Compère, Festa, de Févin, Gombert, L’Héritier, Mouton, des Prez, Prioris, Ninfea Crutwell-Reade, & Owain Park.
Concert generously supported by John & Jean Morgan
The finer details…
‘Behind the Music’ FREE pre-concert talk: 6.45pm
Interval: None
Estimated finish: 8.45pm
Tickets
Front Nave: £28 full price | £3 child/student
Middle Nave: £18 full price | £9 under-35s | £3 child/student
Sides: £13 full price | £3 child/student
Stile Antico
Dante: A Divine Hope
Dante Alighieri’s Comedia (Divine Comedy) is considered one of the greatest works of literature ever written. Its enduring imagery has shaped our western culture’s views and understanding of the afterlife for more than 700 years. With this programme, Stile Antico descends with Il Divino into Hell, journeys together through Purgatory, and finally arrives at the gates of Heaven. Renaissance madrigals and sacred music by composers such as Victoria, Palestrina, and Morales illustrate the way, and texts by Dante himself, set to music by Lazzaschi and Merulo, also narrate the story. At the pinnacle of Heaven we meet the Virgin Mary in Giovanni Gabrieli’s glorious 12-part Magnificat.
£29 | £19 | £14
(£1 children / students)
Ex Cathedra
Jeffrey Skidmore director | Martha McLorinan mezzo-soprano | James Robinson tenor
Rachmaninoff All Night Vigil (‘Vespers’)
Audience favourites Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore return to St Marys with Rachmaninoff’s most-loved choral work to round off a season celebrating the composer’s 150th year. Powerful, passionate, hypnotic – in a time of turmoil and amid the shock of war, Rachmaninoff turned to the choral heritage he held dear, and created one of the most awe-inspiring vocal masterpieces. With its luminous choral tapestry, mesmeric melodies and some of the lowest notes you’ll ever hear sung, there is little wonder it is beloved by audiences and singers alike.
Concert generously supported by Helen & Stan Ireland
£29 | £19 | £14
(£1 children / students)
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
Julian Wilkins & Jeffrey Skidmore conductors
Summer Concert
The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir comes to St Mary’s to take part in the second Warwick Choral Festival, conducted by Julian Wilkins (CBSO Choruses) and Jeffrey Skidmore (Ex Cathedra).
This beautiful and uplifting programme brings together works by Arbeau, Britten, Debussy, Fauré, Finzi, Howells, Le Jeune, Lalande, de Lassus, Machaut, Messiaen, Monteverdi, Saint-Saëns and Whitacre for a true June evening’s delight.
Tickets: £20 and £15 unreserved (students/children £1)
Ex Cathedra
directed by Jeffrey Skidmore
with Andrew Skidmore cello
Baroque Passion
Music by Bach, Purcell, Lotti, Domenico Scarlatti, Kuhnau, Monteverdi, Carissimi, and Charpentier.
Ex Cathedra returns with a programme of sublime music telling of the sacrifice, heartbreak and healing of the Easter story – heartrending as Mary weeps at the foot of the cross to Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater but concludes with optimism in Bach’s glorious motet Komm, Jesu, komm.
“…a heady mix of gloriously rich polyphony” – BBC Music Magazine
£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)
The Marian Consort
directed by Rory McCleery
Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?
Treasures from the manuscripts of Elizabethan England with music by Byrd, Clemens non Papa, Giles, Parsley, Parsons, Tallis and Van Wilder.
The Marian Consort – the young, dynamic group that made its BBC Proms debut last year and whose most recent CD release was chosen as one of Presto Music’s 2021 Recordings of the Year – comes to Warwick for the first time, bringing a programme that explores sacred vocal polyphony found in the beautiful handwritten manuscripts that were the preserve of Elizabethan music collectors.
“The singers perform with a yearning intensity which is just exquisite” – Gramophone
Concert generously supported by Warwick Town Council
£26 | £18 | £12
(£1 children / students)
Armonico Consort
Christopher Monks director
Toby Spence Evangelist | Sir Willard White Christus
Bach St Matthew Passion
Whatever your own spiritual beliefs, everyone should hear St Matthew Passion at least once. A work of genius, combining the most perfectly formed recitative with Bach’s most beautiful arias, St Matthew Passion vividly, passionately and dramatically brings to life the intense emotions and humanity of the Passion of Christ.
Tickets: £39.50 | £27.50 | £19.50 | £14.50 | £11
Concert will have an interval
Da Capo Chamber Choir
John Adams director
Songs for Summer
Feel the joy and celebrate the return of live music with Da Capo Chamber Choir. Discover old and new favourites in an a cappella selection of music for summer from the 16th century to the present day.
Sadly, the continued restrictions mean that this concert cannot now go ahead as planned, but it is hoped to rearrange it for a future date.
