Orpheus Singers’ concert season comes to a grand finale tomorrow (Saturday) when they are joined by London choir ‘City Chorus Singers’ for a 2 choirs gala concert at St Catherine’s Church, Ventnor.
The concert, titled Music from Two Islands, will include pieces performed by each choir individually as well as several items performed by the joint choirs – totalling almost 70 singers.
The 2 choirs, under their conductors Philip Fryer (Orpheus) and Paul Ayres (City Chorus) share a common enthusiasm for high quality performance and the experience of their combined singing will be spectacular.
In a lively and wide-ranging programme, the choirs will perform works ranging from the 16th Century (music by Wilbye, Gabrieli and Victoria) to the present day. A feature of this last group is a composition by Paul Ayres, who conducts the City Chorus, called The Isle is Full of Noises – a fitting quotation from The Tempest by William Shakespeare, who died 400 years ago this year.
The concert finishes with the 2 choirs performing Crossing the Bar by C. Hubert Parry, a setting of the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. There is a very strong connection of Crossing the Bar with the Island. The poem was inspired by Tennyson crossing the sea between Lymington and Yarmouth at the end of his life – he of course lived at Farringford.
Parry, although very much younger, was a friend of Tennyson and often stayed at Farringford. He was a keen yachtsman and attended Cowes Week every year, being a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Tickets for this gala concert are £10.00 and can be purchased at the door, from choir members or online at www.orpheussingers.org.uk/buy-tickets/.
