Brighton Festival Chorus offer six centuries of music

Brighton Festival Chorus’s spring concert 2019 brings together Britten, Vaughan Williams and Elgar at All Saints’ Church, The Drive, Hove on Saturday, March 23 at 7.30pm.
Brighton Festival ChorusBrighton Festival Chorus
Brighton Festival Chorus

Spokesman Tim Rounding said: “In the inspiring setting of All Saints, Hove, Brighton Festival Chorus presents Benjamin Britten’s dramatic cantata, St Nicolas, composed for nearby Lancing College. A colourful exploration of the legends surrounding the life of St Nicolas, patron saint of children, students and sailors, it forms the centrepiece of a concert spanning six centuries of English music.

“The programme includes glorious 16th-century polyphony by Thomas Tallis, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis which is a beautiful 20th-century take on Tallis by Vaughan Williams, the solemnity of Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations and works by Holst and contemporary composer and recording artist Imogen Heap, known for her experimentation and inventiveness.”

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Music director James Morgan added: “St Nicolas is one of Britten’s most accessible works – dramatic and moving with brilliant choral and vocal writing. We’re delighted to showcase, alongside us, Brighton Festival Youth Choir who are on scintillating form, and we also include two of the UK’s best-loved pieces in Elgar, Nimrod and Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.”

Brighton Festival Chorus (BFC) was founded in 1968. Its debut performance was Belshazzar’s Feast, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer, William Walton.

In the 50 years since it was formed, BFC has established and maintained a reputation as one of Britain’s finest choirs, working with top professional orchestras and artists, and delivering consistently high-quality performances and recordings, the most recent of which was a CD of little-known choral works by Elgar released on Somm Records in 2018.

BFC perform in the Brighton Festival every year and at major concert venues in London, Britain and in Europe, with internationally-acclaimed orchestras and conductors.

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Tickets: £20, £15. Students and under 16s: £5. Tickets on 01273 709709, brightonticketshop.com or bfc.org.uk

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