Howells Hymnus Paradisi
7:30pm, Sat, 29 Jun 2024
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- Event Details
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Type of event: Performance Start time: 7:30pm Venue: Bristol Beacon
Trenchard Street
Bristol
BS1 5ARDescription: 
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Finzi: Dies Natalis
Howells: Hymnus Paradisi
Bristol Choral Society
Hannover Oratorienchor
Bristol Ensemble
Conductor: Hilary Campbell
Soprano: Nina Bennet
Tenor: Nick Pritchard
Organ: Simon Hogan
A summer treat focusing on love, music and nature: Vaughan-Williams, Finzi and Howells are the trio of well loved British composers who feature in this concert by Bristol Choral Society.
Ralph Vaughan-Williams celebrated the 150th year of his birth in 2022, and Bristol has been ringing with his music ever since. This concert showcases his Serenade to Music, first performed in 1938 to honour Sir Henry Wood on the occasion of his jubilee. Shakespeare’s words provide the lyrics for this piece, and the moon will ‘shine bright in such a night as this’ inside the Bristol Beacon.
Composed in the same year, Howells’ ‘Hymnus Paradisi’ was inspired by the death of his own son. Deeply felt and uplifting, this piece has been an inspiration to composers since its first performance at the Three Choirs Festival in 1950.
Finally, wonder and awe are also central to Gerald Finzi’s ‘Dies Natalis’, celebrating the miracle of birth and life, a cantata for tenor solist and strings.
All three of these composers are part of a proud British tradition of collaboration and support, in which established names still reach out, both to each other and to newcomers. Come and be inspired!
We are delighted to be joined by members of the Hannover Oratorienchor for this concert as part of an exchange visit. Bristol is twinned with Hannover and members of BCS had a great experience visiting in 2022 and singing Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem (German Requiem) with the choir. We are looking forward to their return visit and showing them Bristol and sharing our music making again.
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