Concert Details
| Title: | A Feast for Saint Cecilia |
| Performed by: | Mayfield Festival Choir |
| Time: | Sunday, 17 November 2024, at 7:30pm |
| Place: | St Dunstan’s Church, Mayfield |
| Description: | Programme Lotti: Missa Sancti Christophori Handel: Ode for St Cecilia’s Day Performers Mayfield Festival Choir Conductor: Jeremy Summerly Orchestra: Mayfield Baroque Soloists: Sofia Kirwan-Baez (Soprano), Dee Benians (Alto) Francis Melville (Tenor) The combination of Dryden’s poetry and Handel’s music is a winning one. Handel’s Ode for St Cecilia’s Day delighted audiences at its première in 1739, showcasing, as it does, Soprano and Tenor soloists, and a virtuosic orchestra. Mayfield Baroque returns to St Dunstan’s, as do the glittering young singers Sofía Kirwan-Baez and Francis Melville. Dryden’s text cites trumpet, flute, organ, and violins, and Handel responds with a dazzling composition in praise of the patron saint of music. Never mind that Cecilia’s martyrdom in a steam room has been wrongly appropriated (steam is fed through pipes and organs have pipes): music needs a patron saint, and since the medieval period that role has fallen to St Cecilia. This concert pairs Handel’s Cecilian Ode with a Mass setting by the Venetian Baroque composer Antonio Lotti. The St Christopher Mass has become famous because of its outstanding ‘Crucifixus’ section at its centre. The instruments drop out and the choir branches out into eight parts to sing one of the most sublime few minutes of choral music from any era. This performance places Lotti’s Crucifixus within the whole Mass setting – a rare event. Join us for this unmissable musical feast on the Sunday before St Cecilia’s Day. |
| Tickets: | Tickets cost £30 (centre), £15 (south side), £8 (north side). Free for under 25s, are available: a/ online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/mayfieldfestivalchoir b/ in person from Sew Inspired, Mayfield and Lambert & Foster, Wadhurst; c/ by phone from 0333 666 3366 (This is a general booking line operated for us by TicketSource. Please be sure to say that you are booking tickets for Mayfield Festival Choir –Handel's Ode for Saint Cecilia's Day. A postage fee of £1.80 will be applied to each order.) Would you like to sing with us? We would love to hear from anyone who has experience of choral music and is keen to be part of a friendly but ambitious choir. Contact the membership secretary through the website http://www.mayfieldfestivalchoir.org/join-the-choir |
| Contact: | MFC Info |
