Concerts

Spring Concert: Vienna’s Golden Age

Saturday 4th May 2024, St Mary’s Parish Church, Ambleside

Programme
Mozart Requiem in D minor
Beethoven Fantasy in C minor for piano, orchestra and chorus (Choral Fantasia)
Haydn Insanae et vanae curae

Laurie Ashworth (soprano)
Wendy Sharrock (mezzo)
Nicholas Hurndall Smith (tenor)
Rob Gildon (bass)
with the Lonsdale Ensemble (leader, Julian Cann)
Juanjo Blázquez (piano)

Conducted by Marco Giudici

This concert was the most ambitious we have ever staged, and featured works by the three greatest composers of the Golden Age of music in Vienna – Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, under the baton of Music Director Marco Giudici.   It took the audience on a journey from sorrow to elation, starting with the Mozart’s intense and dramatic Requiem and finishing with Beethoven’s joyful Choral Fantasia, which celebrates the power of words and music to raise mankind to the heights.  In between, we performed an exciting chorus by Haydn, Insanae et Vanae Curae.  

The Choral Society was joined by the 23-strong Lonsdale Ensemble (led by Julian Cann), and welcomed a brilliant young Manchester-based pianist Juanjo Blázquez, together with four superb soloists – Laurie Ashworth, Wendy Sharrock, Nicholas Hurndall Smith and Robert Gildon.  

Read more about the pieces we performed.

Juanjo Blàzquez in concert

Listen to Juanjo playing Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto (YouTube)

Laurie Ashworth, soprano

Wendy Sharrock, mezzo

Robert Gildon, bass

Nicholas Hurndall Smith, tenor

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Previous Concerts

16th December 2023

Vivaldi: Magnificat
Zelenka: Magnificat
Ola Gjeilo: Ave Generosa (words by Hildegard of Bingen)
William Byrd: Ave Verum Corpus
also with Christmas music for choir and audience

Conductor: Marco Guiduci

Laurie Ashworth, soprano

 

Joyce Tindsley, mezzo

Peter Noke, organ

29th April 2023

Beethoven, Mass in C Major
John Rutter, The Sprig of Thyme. A suite of eleven traditional folk-song settings.
Handel, Zadok the Priest. The traditional Coronation anthem.

Soloists
Rachel Little (soprano),
Sarah Jillian Cox (mezzo),
Christopher Steele (tenor),
Paul Im Thurn (bass),

with the Lonsdale Ensemble
(leader: Julian Cann)

Conductor: Marco Guiduci

Image: Hedgerow in Spring by Rachel Gibson

17th December 2022

Joseph Haydn: St Nicholas Mass
Benjamin Britten: Ceremony of Carols
Gustav Holst: Christmas Day
Ola Gjeilo: Northern Lights
Elizabeth Poston: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

Soloists: Laurie Ashworth (soprano), Sarah Jillian Cox (mezzo), Nicholas Hurndall Smith (tenor), Jolyon Dodgson (bass)

AnnaKate Pearson – Harp
Charles Edmondson – Organ

Conductor: Marco Guidici

7th May 2022

Mozart: Solemn Vespers
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Vivaldi: Gloria

Soloists: Tracie Penwarden (soprano), Joyce Tindsley (alto), Stephen Newlove (tenor), Ahsley Kirkham (bass)

Julian Cann – violin
Andy Plowman – piano/organ
David Edmonds – organ

Conductors: Jolyon Dodgson, Marco Guiduci

18th December 2021

Handel’s Messiah

Soloists: Laurie Ashworth (soprano), Anne-Marie Kerr (alto), Adam Crewe (tenor), Jonathan Millican (bass)

The Lonsdale Ensemble

Conductor: Jolyon Dodgson

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8th December 2019 – Puccini Messa Di Gloria and a selection of Christmas Music and Carols

4th May 2019 – Josef Haydn: The Creation

8th December 2018 – Bach’s Christmas Oratorio parts 1-3

28th April  2018 – Mozart Requiem plus Regina Coeli & Haydn: Little Organ Mass; Insanae et Vanae Curae

December 2017 – Charpentier: Messe de Minuit, Ralph Vaughan-Williams: Fantasia on Christmas Carols and other Christmas music

May 2017 – Vivaldi: Gloria (RV589 and 588)

December 2016 – Haydn: St Nicholas Mass and other Christmas music

May 2016 – Schutz: the Pharisee & the Publican, Woman, why weepest thou, Monteverdi: Mass in Four Voices, Stanford: Songs of the Fleet, Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb

December 2015 – Handel: Messiah

May 2015 – various choral pieces by Louis Vierne and Gabriel Faure

December 2014 – Dvorak: Mass in D plus Christmas music

May 2014 – Mozart: Missa Brevis, Divertimento in D, Ave Verum Corpus, Mass in C, Laudate Dominium

December 2013 – Christmas music by Vierne, Faure, Berlioz and others

May 2013 – Handel: Judas Maccabeus

December 2012 – Christmas music by Vivaldi, Britten, Rutter and others

May 2012 – Haydn: Nelson Mass, Handel: Zadok the Priest, Mozart: Solemn Vespers