2018/19 Season
Sunday 23 September 2018 , 7.00pm
Gorton Monastery, Manchester
Mahler Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’
In collaboration with Slaithwaite Philharmonic Orchestra
Soprani Bibi Heal
Mezzo Olivia Ray
Founded in 1891, Slaithwaite Philharmonic is recognised as one of the top five amateur orchestras in the country, with a reputation for bold and adventurous programming. The orchestra have invited St George’s Singers to join them in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as the Resurrection Symphony. First performed in 1895, the symphony was regarded during Mahler’s lifetime as one of his most popular and successful works, and its power has not waned since, being voted the fifth greatest symphony of all time in a survey of conductors by BBC Music Magazine.
Saturday 24 November 2018, 7.30 pm
Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
A Hundred Years On
Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Goodall Eternal Light: A Requiem
Johnson Manning War’s Embers (premiere)
Conductor Neil Taylor
Organ Graham Eccles
Piano Pete Durrant
Harp Louise Thomson
Percussion Ged Marciniak
Soprano Léonie Maxwell
Counter tenor Joseph Judge
Baritone Terence Ayebare
A hundred years after the end of the First World War in 1918, this concert presents three works that allow us to reflect on events of this most momentous of years. Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light is an intensely moving requiem setting of compassion for the grieving, its text including the poem ‘In Flanders Field’. Sasha Johnson Manning’s choral suite War’s Embers was commissioned by the Whittingham Lives project and is based on the poetry of Ivor Gurney, a tragic victim of war who spent many years in an asylum. Leonard Bernstein, born in 1918, combined the Hebrew and Christian choral traditions in his uplifting setting of the Psalms in 1965, a plea for peace in Israel during a turbulent time in the young country’s history.
Saturday 8 December 2018, 7.00 pm
St George’s Church, Buxton Road, Stockport
Carols and Brass by Candlelight
Conductor Neil Taylor
Organ Peter Durrant
with:
Chetham’s Brass Ensemble
and:
Bradshaw Hall Primary School Choir
Directors Vicky Sunderland and Louise Bousfield
Following last year’s exciting debut at our annual carol concert by Chetham’s young brass players, we’ve invited them back for more festive fun and music making. Enjoy listening to the youthful voices of Bradshaw Hall choir, teamed with the ever so slightly older strains of St George’s Singers, for an evening of carols and Christmas music. Not forgetting the complimentary mulled wine, mince pies and other Christmas treats!
Saturday 19 January 2019
9.30-10.15 am (registration for singers), 6.00 pm (concert)
St George’s Church, London Road, Poynton
2019 Singing Day
Gounod St Cecilia Mass
Conductor Neil Taylor
Accompanist Peter Durrant
Soprano Léonie Maxwell
Tenor Christopher Littlewood
Bass Robert Brooks
As a youth, Charles François Gounod intended to become a priest, but decided he was unsuited for the priesthood, and expressed his devotion in numerous works of sacred music. The Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile, dedicated to the patron saint of musicians, was his first major work, premiered in the Church of St Eustache in Paris on Saint Cecilia’s Day, 22 November 1855, and establishing him as a noteworthy composer. Gounod’s ability to compose dramatic music for the opera is clearly evident: the Gloria and Credo are famous for their drama, power and memorable melodies. Saint-Saëns ranked the Mass amongst Gounod’s best works, commenting ‘this serene light which rose before the musical world like a breaking dawn, troubled people enormously … at first one was dazzled, then charmed, then conquered’.
Sunday 31 March 2019, 7.30 pm
Gorton Monastery, Manchester
Bach Mass in B Minor
Northern Baroque Orchestra
Conductor Neil Taylor
Soprani Rebecca Lea, Eleanor Gregory
Contralto Joyce Tindsley
Tenor Richard Dowling
Bass Rob O’Connell
‘The greatest musical work of art of all times and of all nations.’ That was the verdict of Hans Georg Nägeli, the first publisher of the Mass in B minor. Few would disagree with his assessment of this most glorious of choral masterpieces. Intellectually, spiritually and musically, the Mass in B minor unites his creed as a Christian with his creed as a musician, and is the supreme expression of universality.
Saturday 8 June 2019, 7.30 pm
St George’s Church, London Road, Poynton
The Well-Conducted Tour
Music from St George’s Singers’ European tours
Conductor Neil Taylor
Organ Pete Durrant
Every year St George’s Singers goes on tour, performing music from the glorious cornucopia that is the British choral music repertoire, and including works specially chosen for our European audiences. Following our May 2019 tour to Bruges, this concert gives our audience back at home a chance to hear some of the music we normally reserve for overseas listeners. So, come and join us as we revisit exciting places and revive musical memories from across Europe.
St George’s Singers by invitation
Friday 5 July 2019, 7.30 pm
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Mahler Symphony No. 8, ‘Symphony of a Thousand’
Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra
Chetham’s Chorus
St George’s Singers
Leeds Festival Chorus
Manchester Cathedral Choristers
Conductor Stephen Threlfall
The Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical repertoire, its huge instrumental and vocal forces giving it the nickname ‘Symphony of a Thousand’. The last of Mahler’s works to be premiered in his lifetime, it is proof of his position as one of the most visionary and ambitious composers of the romantic era. In 2019, the 50th Anniversary of Chetham’s School of Music, St George’s Singers joins with Chetham’s Chorus and Symphony Orchestra under the baton of their Director of Music, Stephen Threlfall, in a performance of this astounding work.