POSTPONED: Timeless Reflections, Saint Cecilia Singers

A message from Saint Cecilia Singers:

"With deep regret we have taken the decision to postpone our Timeless Reflections concert on 18 March.

Due to a combination of factors, we are unable to go ahead with the concert as planned. We are working urgently to confirm another date. Ticket holders have been contacted and tickets will be refunded automatically."

After a wait of three years, the Saint Cecilia Singers will perform the world premiere of Neil Cox's Requiem Canticles, commissioned for their 70th anniversary. The first half of the concert will see the choir sing two famous masterpieces of devotional music: Allegri’s Miserere and Lotti’s Crucifixus along with John Sanders’ Reproaches.

Musical Director Jonathan Hope said: “Postponing our 70th anniversary concert in 2020 because of the pandemic was a big blow but we couldn't have predicted then how fittingly poignant this programme would be three years later. These are some of choral music’s most stunningly beautiful and heart-rending works. We dedicate this concert to the memory of all those who have been lost.”

Joining the Singers to perform the premiere of Requiem Canticles are countertenor Tom Lilburn; soprano Jennifer Walker; as well as instrumentalists on piano, organ, trumpet, horn, harp and percussion.  The piece also incorporates a recording of the Bells of Speyer Cathedral.

Composer Neil Cox said: “I was absolutely delighted to be commissioned to write a piece for the 70th anniversary of the Saint Cecilia Singers, for some of my happiest memories of music-making have been associated with this premier-league choir. I have written the piece with the famous Gloucester acoustic in mind. I wanted to have moments of immense sonority sitting beside passages of real intimacy, and I hope I might be able to give full rein to the choir’s technical assurance.”

 Tickets are £20 (£22 on the door) with children and students welcomed free of charge available from www.saintceciliasingers.org.