Winter Concert

The main item on the programme will be a performance of George Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus. In this extraordinary and exciting work the 22-year-old composer stretches his choir – and his own invention – to the limits, in music of a powerful and expressive intensity, which was daringly avant-garde for the time when it was written (1707). The Sine Nomine Singers, who have proved themselves more than equal in the past to difficult works by other baroque composers such as Scarlatti and Bach, are rising to the challenges set by Handel’s exhilirating score.
Among the soloists will be the brilliant mezzo Harriet Webb, who has sung regularly with the choir in the past; the very talented young soprano, Rosie Coad; local baritone Jeremy Clitheroe, who has been a stalwart of the choir for some years now; and tenor Paul Richardson, a former choir-member with a fine tenor voice. The choir will be accompanied by the Cosine Orchestra, led by Jonathan Murphy. Jonathan is a highly talented local violinist, and he will be providing the solo instrumental spot in the concert, with music by Edward Elgar, whose centenary falls this year.
As well as Dixit Dominus, the choir will also be singing music by Henry Purcell, including the uplifting verse anthem O Sing unto the Lord, two beautiful pieces of 19th century choral writing – Felix Mendelssohn’s Verleih uns Frieden (Grant us peace) and Johannes Brahms’s Geistliches Lied (Holy song) – and Edward Bairstow’s evocative Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. Bairstow was the organist of York Minster, and this anthem is an evocative example of 20th century church music. The choir and ochestra will be conducted by its director Stephen Davies.
All proceeds from this concert will go to Harris HospisCare. Tickets are £8 (students £5) and are available at the door, or can be reserved by ringing 020 8656 1732. There is wheel-chair access at St George’s.