Elgar Festival: English String Orchestra performs works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams: Gala concert in Worcester Cathedral at Worcester Cathedral, Worcester on Saturday 2nd June 2018

Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

Elgar Festival: English String Orchestra performs works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams

Gala concert in Worcester Cathedral

Part of the Elgar Festival 2018

Add to my Calendar 02-06-2018 19:30 02-06-2018 21:30 36 Elgar Festival: English String Orchestra performs works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams The festival, which has the official endorsement of the City of Elgar's birth - Worcester, features symphonic, chamber and choral concerts, spoken word and exhibits. Established by decree of Worcester City Council in 2017, the new Elgar Festival comes to life this year with Kenneth Woods assuming the role of Artistic Director and the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) becoming Orchestra-in-Residence.  Held during the weekend closest to Elgar's birthdate (2nd June 1857), from Friday 1st  June - Sunday 3rd June 2018, the Festival combines orchestral, chamber, vocal and choral concerts with exhibits and lectures to celebrate the life and music of Sir Edward Elgar at various venues in his hometown of Worcester. The Elgar Festival brings together leading local arts and educational organisations with an array of internationally renowned guest artists, placing the music of Worcester's most famous son alongside that of his contemporaries and some of today's leading composers and arrangers. "Our region has seen many celebrations of Elgar's legacy over the years, including recent projects such as the 2015 Elgar Pilgrimage organised by the ESO," says ESO Artistic Director Kenneth Woods. "However, this new festival marks the first time such an occasion has been organised with the official endorsement of the City of Elgar's birth, and brings together a consortium of diverse and promising partners and stakeholders including the Elgar Birthplace, the Elgar Society, the City of Worcester, Worcester Live and an array of educational and performing institutions. We hope it will become the festival that one of Britain's greatest composers has always deserved." Musical proceedings get underway on Friday 1st June 2018, when the Elgar School of Music hosts a programme of Elgar's vocal works performed by Worcester-based soprano Erika Mädi Jones, South African tenor Wilhelm Theunissen, pianist and Head of the Elgar School Janine Parsons and students of the Elgar School. Featured songs include Like to the Damask Rose, Rondel, A War Song and In the Dawn, many of which had their premiere in Worcester's Crown Hotel. On Saturday 2nd June 2018, English Symphony Orchestra leader Zoë Beyers and colleague’s violinist Kate Suthers, violist Catherine Marwood and cellist Victoria Simonsen present an afternoon concert of string quartets, featuring Elgar with David Matthews, one of today's foremost proponents of his forbearer's music. Part of the ESO's year-long ‘David Matthews at 75’ celebrations, the programme includes the world premiere of Matthews' string quartet arrangement of Elgar's Sospiri, Matthew's own String Quartet No. 6, and Elgar's String Quartet. David Matthews' orchestration of Elgar's String Quartet is at the heart of the Elgar Festival's Gala Concert, which takes place on the evening of Saturday 2nd June at Worcester Cathedral, with Kenneth Woods conducting the English String Orchestra. The programme also includes Elgar's Introduction and Allegro and Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto featuring soloist Nicholas Daniel. Carrying on the orchestration and arrangement theme, Woods and the ESO will perform Donald Fraser's Songs for Strings, arrangements of four Elgar songs for string orchestra. "Elgar's music has been a lifelong source of inspiration and fascination for me," says Woods, "and I think the powerful and poignant ways in which Donald Fraser and David Matthews have responded to Elgar's originals in these arrangements says a lot about how his music continues to challenge and excite composers today." The Elgar Festival ends as it began, with vocal music. On Sunday 3rd June, The Elgar Chorale, directed by Malvern-born Piers Maxim, performs works by Elgar and his contemporaries Hubert Parry, Charles Stanford and Arthur Sullivan at ‘The Firs’, Elgar's birthplace surrounded by the beauty of rural Worcestershire. Spoken word also features in the Elgar Festival. On Friday 1st June, actor, playwright and Elgar Society member Peter Sutton will present ‘Pomp and Poetry Too’, a selection of poems interspersed with Elgar's music at The Firs. On Saturday 2nd June, David Matthews delivers the bi-annual A. T. Shaw Lecture presented by the Elgar Society and the Elgar Festival. His topic is "Elgar's Voice," in which he will explore two aspects of Elgar's distinct voice - the public voice and the private voice. Among the works Matthews will discuss are In the South, Falstaff, the String Quartet (including his arrangement for string orchestra as well as the original), and Sospiri, one of the most personal of all of Elgar's works. Throughout the Festival, the Guildhall in central Worcester will have an exhibit of Elgar memorabilia on display on loan from prestigious private collections. Plans for the 2019 Elgar Festival are already underway and will see an expanded portfolio of concerts, including a celebration of the centenary of the composition of Elgar's Cello Concerto and the festival's first oratorio night. In addition, the Worcester Repertory Company will stage Peter Sutton's play, Alice and Elgar, at Worcester's Swan Theatre. For more information about the Elgar Festival please visit www.elgarfestival.org Worcester Cathedral, Worcester DD/MM/YYYY

Details

Worcester Cathedral
8 College Yard
Worcester
Worcestershire
WR1 2LA
England

Saturday 2nd June 2018
7:30 PM

Programme

Edward Elgar – Introduction and Allegro, Op.47
Edward Elgar – Songs for Strings (arr. Donald Fraser)
Edward Elgar – String Quartet in E minor, Op.83
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Oboe Concerto

Performers

Kenneth Woods – Conductor
Nicholas Daniel – oboe

English Symphony Orchestra

Programme Note

The festival, which has the official endorsement of the City of Elgar's birth - Worcester, features symphonic, chamber and choral concerts, spoken word and exhibits.

Established by decree of Worcester City Council in 2017, the new Elgar Festival comes to life this year with Kenneth Woods assuming the role of Artistic Director and the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) becoming Orchestra-in-Residence. Held during the weekend closest to Elgar's birthdate (2nd June 1857), from Friday 1st June - Sunday 3rd June 2018, the Festival combines orchestral, chamber, vocal and choral concerts with exhibits and lectures to celebrate the life and music of Sir Edward Elgar at various venues in his hometown of Worcester. The Elgar Festival brings together leading local arts and educational organisations with an array of internationally renowned guest artists, placing the music of Worcester's most famous son alongside that of his contemporaries and some of today's leading composers and arrangers.

"Our region has seen many celebrations of Elgar's legacy over the years, including recent projects such as the 2015 Elgar Pilgrimage organised by the ESO," says ESO Artistic Director Kenneth Woods. "However, this new festival marks the first time such an occasion has been organised with the official endorsement of the City of Elgar's birth, and brings together a consortium of diverse and promising partners and stakeholders including the Elgar Birthplace, the Elgar Society, the City of Worcester, Worcester Live and an array of educational and performing institutions. We hope it will become the festival that one of Britain's greatest composers has always deserved."

Musical proceedings get underway on Friday 1st June 2018, when the Elgar School of Music hosts a programme of Elgar's vocal works performed by Worcester-based soprano Erika Mädi Jones, South African tenor Wilhelm Theunissen, pianist and Head of the Elgar School Janine Parsons and students of the Elgar School. Featured songs include Like to the Damask Rose, Rondel, A War Song and In the Dawn, many of which had their premiere in Worcester's Crown Hotel.

On Saturday 2nd June 2018, English Symphony Orchestra leader Zoë Beyers and colleague’s violinist Kate Suthers, violist Catherine Marwood and cellist Victoria Simonsen present an afternoon concert of string quartets, featuring Elgar with David Matthews, one of today's foremost proponents of his forbearer's music. Part of the ESO's year-long ‘David Matthews at 75’ celebrations, the programme includes the world premiere of Matthews' string quartet arrangement of Elgar's Sospiri, Matthew's own String Quartet No. 6, and Elgar's String Quartet.

David Matthews' orchestration of Elgar's String Quartet is at the heart of the Elgar Festival's Gala Concert, which takes place on the evening of Saturday 2nd June at Worcester Cathedral, with Kenneth Woods conducting the English String Orchestra. The programme also includes Elgar's Introduction and Allegro and Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto featuring soloist Nicholas Daniel. Carrying on the orchestration and arrangement theme, Woods and the ESO will perform Donald Fraser's Songs for Strings, arrangements of four Elgar songs for string orchestra.

"Elgar's music has been a lifelong source of inspiration and fascination for me," says Woods, "and I think the powerful and poignant ways in which Donald Fraser and David Matthews have responded to Elgar's originals in these arrangements says a lot about how his music continues to challenge and excite composers today."

The Elgar Festival ends as it began, with vocal music. On Sunday 3rd June, The Elgar Chorale, directed by Malvern-born Piers Maxim, performs works by Elgar and his contemporaries Hubert Parry, Charles Stanford and Arthur Sullivan at ‘The Firs’, Elgar's birthplace surrounded by the beauty of rural Worcestershire.

Spoken word also features in the Elgar Festival. On Friday 1st June, actor, playwright and Elgar Society member Peter Sutton will present ‘Pomp and Poetry Too’, a selection of poems interspersed with Elgar's music at The Firs.

On Saturday 2nd June, David Matthews delivers the bi-annual A. T. Shaw Lecture presented by the Elgar Society and the Elgar Festival. His topic is "Elgar's Voice," in which he will explore two aspects of Elgar's distinct voice - the public voice and the private voice. Among the works Matthews will discuss are In the South, Falstaff, the String Quartet (including his arrangement for string orchestra as well as the original), and Sospiri, one of the most personal of all of Elgar's works.

Throughout the Festival, the Guildhall in central Worcester will have an exhibit of Elgar memorabilia on display on loan from prestigious private collections.

Plans for the 2019 Elgar Festival are already underway and will see an expanded portfolio of concerts, including a celebration of the centenary of the composition of Elgar's Cello Concerto and the festival's first oratorio night. In addition, the Worcester Repertory Company will stage Peter Sutton's play, Alice and Elgar, at Worcester's Swan Theatre.

For more information about the Elgar Festival please visit www.elgarfestival.org

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