Forthcoming Concerts
Saturday 6 June - St John's Church, Wimbledon - 7 pm
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Parry: Songs of Farewell ​
Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
Howells: The House of the Mind
Holst: St. Paul's Suite
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George Inscoe - conductor
Dominic Sedgwick - baritone
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The first half of the twentieth century marked a glorious flowering of English music. Composers such as Vaughan Williams, Holst, Parry, and later Howells, forged a distinctive national voice rooted in lyricism, choral tradition, and a deep engagement with landscape, poetry, and spirituality. All this is reflected in our programme 'Songs of Light', a true snapshot of that golden age.
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Parry wrote the Songs of Farewell in 1916 against the backdrop of the First World War - a conflict in which a number of his former pupils were being killed in action. Each of the six motets sets poems musing on the meaning of life and death, with the sixth ('Lord, let me know mine end') setting a portion of Psalm 39. Vaughan Williams wrote his Five Mystical Songs a little earlier (between 1906 and 1911) setting the poems of the sixteenth century poet (and very briefly Anglican priest and even MP) George Herbert. The songs are contemplative and with an intrinsic spirituality which allow the baritone soloist to take a key role.
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The most recent choral composition is Howells' The House of the Mind. Howells had been a pupil of Parry (saved from the First World War by significant ill-health and who was friends with many of Parry's pupils who were lost to the Great War) and who was awestruck when meeting Vaughan Williams. Although most closely associated with the 20th century canon of English church choral music this work is Howells' reflection on the capacity of the human mind to contemplate "th' infinite Creator" and limitless possibilities.
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Holst's St Paul's Suite is written for string orchestra and is inspired by English folk songs (such a feature in Vaughan Williams's work - the two were firm friends). An energetic and engaging work it was written in 1913 when Holst was music master at St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith - he must have had a talented cohort of players at the time!
Our concerts
We are determined to ensure that our concerts are not just highly enjoyable musical occasions but also an integral part of community life. They offer an opportunity to catch up with friends as well as make new ones; to hear familiar music and - hopefully - also some less familiar music that you will swiftly come to love. They are also events for all ages; we believe very strongly that high quality musical organisations - particularly those with a strong community focus - have a responsibility to share their music with everyone, not just those for whom attending a classical music concert is a routine experience. For that reason we always offer very affordable child tickets throughout our venues as well as affordable full price tickets. We also take our work into schools and invite local schoolchildren and parents to witness our final rehearsals free of charge. If you would like to support or take advantage of these opportunities please do get in touch.
Future concert plans
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As yet unscheduled concert plans include the completion of our cycle of the major Handel oratorios, motets by Bruckner and others, Bach's St Matthew Passion, further great English choral anthems and a series of new commissions.