Details
Colston Hall
Colston St
Bristol
BS1 5AR
England
Programme
John Rutter – Mass of the Children
Jonathan Dove – There was a child
George Frideric Handel – Zadok the Priest, HWV 258
Performers
Toby Spence – Tenor
Erica Eloff – soprano
Martin Le Poidevin – Bass
John Rutter – Conductor
David Ogden – Conductor
City of Bristol Choir
Exultate Singers
Bristol Youth Choir
Westbury-on-Trym Parish Church Choir
Programme Note
The celebrated composer and conductor John Rutter takes to the podium at Bristol’s Colston Hall to conduct a choir of over 250 adult and youth singers from around the city in a performance of his Mass of the Children with professional orchestra the Bristol Ensemble. The concert is given in aid of the Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity,
Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal.
Singers from City of Bristol Choir and Exultate Singers join forces with Bristol Youth Choir and choristers from Westbury-on-Trym Parish Church to form a super-sized chorus. Hearing this body of voices singing everything from whispered pianissimos to thunderous, exhilarating full-tilt fortissimos
will be a thrilling and unforgettable live music experience.
The Mass blends wonderful writing for children’s voices with adult choral forces and rich orchestration in a work that sets parts of the traditional mass and English poetry.
Jonathan Dove’s cantata There Was a Child was written as a tribute to a friend’s son who died tragically young. Filled with both joyous celebration and heartfelt emotion, it is a big, warm-hearted modern masterpiece in the spirit of Britten and Vaughan Williams. This performance features the international star tenor soloist Toby Spence, soprano Erica Eloff and bass Martin Le Poidevin. Completing the programme is Handel’s Zadok The Priest, one of the BBC’s ‘Ten Pieces’.