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Details
Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Rd
South Bank
London
SE1 8XX
England
Tickets
Prices: £10, £19, £25, £39, £45 + booking fee and restoration levy; concessions 50%
Booking line: 020 3879 9555
Book Tickets
Programme
Edward Elgar – The Kingdom, Op.51
Performers
Francesca Chiejina – soprano
Dame Sarah Connolly – mezzo-soprano
Benjamin Hulett – tenor
Ashley Riches – Bass
David Temple – Conductor
Crouch End Festival Chorus
Hertfordshire Chorus
London Orchestra da Camera
Programme Note
" 'The purest and serenest of the composer's works, with its elevating message of spiritual peace and comfort '," August Jaeger quoted by Andrew Neill in his review of David Temple and Crouch End Fstival Chorus's "indispensable" new recording of The Kingdom in the Elgar Society Journal.
The extent to which The Kingdom resides under the shadow of Elgar’s much-loved The Dream of Gerontius is clear from its comparatively infrequent performances and fewer recordings.
However, David Temple firmly believes that, with its beautiful, gentle conversational sections, astonishing dramatic passages and iridescent colours, The Kingdom is Elgar’s best choral work. His conversion happened gradually, and he is now so taken with the work that he struggles to find any fault with it at all: ‘It is a gem from the first note to the last!’.
His desire to share this glorious music as widely as possible has led to his recent recording with Crouch End Festival Chorus for Signum Classics (a Gramophone Editor’s Choice) and, of course, to this performance.
Joining Crouch End Festival Chorus and Hertfordshire Chorus are the four wonderful soloists from that "indispensable" recording: soprano Francesca Chiejina, mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, tenor Benjamin Hulett and baritone Ashley Riches.
