Saturday 17th September, 2016 7.30pm, Church of the Holy Spirit, Narbonne Ave, Clapham, London
Conductor Sarah Tenant-Flowers Organ Ian Tindale
Sarah Tenant-Flowers
We were very excited to have the opportunity to work with internationally-renowned conductor Sarah Tenant-Flowers, in a selection of music including the Bach motets and works by Baltic composers, in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The programme included Dubra’s Ave Maria I, Esenvalds’ atmospheric Stars (complete with glass-playing singers!), the Four Estonian Lullabies by Veljo Tormis, and a number of Bach motets. Ian Tindale was the able soloist in Bach’s epic Toccata & Fugue in d (‘Dorian’) BWV538.
Thursday 28th July 2016 8pm, Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge
Wednesday 17th August 2016 8pm, St Mark’s Church, Newnham, Cambridge
It was a particular pleasure to perform these summer concerts in two venues where we have been warmly welcomed in recent years. The programme included classic works by renaissance composers such as Tallis, Byrd, and Tye, and a number of favourites from later composers Wood, Harris, Parry, and Holst.
In August 2016 we ventured abroad for the first time, to sing a concert and two services at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral in Cork, Ireland.
The concert on the Saturday, based loosely around the theme of ‘prayer,’ featured works by Renaissance composers from England, including Byrd’s Be unto me, O Lord, a tower and Tomkins’ Arise, O Lord, and Europe (Palestrina’s Exultate Deo and Lobo’s Versa est in luctum were particular highlights), as well as a selection of more modern pieces with organ accompaniment, of which Andrew Millington’s joyful setting of Psalm 150 went down especially well with the large audience. Following a short break and rehearsal for the following day’s services, we hit the town (!), spending an enjoyable and slightly surreal evening sampling the local nightlife.
In concert.
The following day we returned to the Cathedral to sing for the morning Eucharist – Palestrina’s Missa sine nomine – after which we were plied with coffee and biscuits (so many versions of custard creams!) by members of the congregation, before a delicious lunch at the nearby Flying Enterprise.
Evensong consisted of Howells in E, and the Rose responses for men’s voices, followed by Wood’s haunting View me, Lord, rounded off by a fabulous rendition of the Toccata from Duruflé’s Suite V, played by the equally fabulous David Warren.
This year our Easter mini tour saw us singing two concerts and a morning service in the Hampshire/West Sussex area. The weekend was a huge success and we were very warmly received by our audiences and congregation, who were extremely generous in their donations to the Veterinary Benevolent Fund, the charity for whom our late bass, David Bee, was fundraising when he died in June 2015, and to whom the weekend was dedicated.
Saturday 2nd April 2016 7.30pm, Holy Trinity Church, Bosham, West Sussex
Sunday 3rd April 2016
3pm, St Andrew, Hurstbourne Priors, Hampshire
‘All Creatures Great & Small’
The programme included works by composers ranging from Lassus to Stanford, and Mendelssohn to Mitchell, featuring grasshoppers, apes, lambs, birds, and many other creatures!
In concert, April 2016
Sunday 3rd April 2016 10.30am, St Andrew, Hurstbourne Priors, Hampshire
BCP Matins
Responses Clucas Canticles Boyce in C Anthem God so loved the world – Stainer
We were very pleased to receive the following from the congregation at St Mark’s Church, following our performance there of ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine’ – Music for Queens on 5th March 2016.
“A large audience waited in an atmospherically-lit St Mark’s church on Saturday for our Choir Director, Louisa Denby, to conduct her own choir and ensemble, Vox Cantab, and The Rosemary Consort Brass Ensemble, in a cleverly-selected programme of 17th- and 18th-century music. The concert was in three sections: ‘Funeral Sentences and Motets’ by Henry Purcell, ‘Music from the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II,’ and ‘Birthday Ode for Queen Anne.’ The theatrical elements that Louisa had devised produced a dramatic, riveting concert – natural brass and drum in the gallery and around the building, a choir processing elegantly in black for the sacred music, then in lively colours for the coronation and birthday music. Several of the more experienced – and reputedly judgemental – songsters of St Mark’s voted it the best singing they had heard in the church in many a year. A first-class concert by a first-rate choir!”
John Bachelor at the newly-refurbished organ.
“They began with funeral music written by Purcell. It was composed when he was just 35 years old and I suspect all those creating the music for us were even younger. I had shivers down my spine at the end of the piece. There was a feeling of overwhelming solemnity and sadness, and it seemed right to be in the church where so many funerals have taken place.
“The second half was a glorious celebration of praise and thanks and a complete change of mood, and the wonderful singing and music was presented in a celebration of colour.”
Funeral Sentences and motets – Henry Purcell.
“The concert was exciting to listen to…the singers and musicians showed their delight in all that they did, but we must give the highest award to Louisa…she has such a wide grasp of all that she is doing…her qualifications are remarkable…thank you Louisa for such a glorious evening.”
We are grateful to all at St Mark’s for their assistance on the day of the concert, and for allowing us to present such an event in their lovely church. We intend to take up the invitation to return!
Saturday 5th March 2016 7.30pm, St Mark’s Church, Barton Road, Newnham, Cambridge
We were very excited to present a semi-theatrical performance of some stunning music written in honour of a number of queens of England. We were also delighted to collaborate with members of the Rosemary Consort and to support them in raising money for The Rosemary Foundation ‘Hospice at Home.’ Click here to read the review from St Mark’s.
Music for Queens, 5th March 2016
Purcell Funeral Sentences & motets Handel Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne
plus a selection of music performed at the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, including Handel’s Zadok the Priest
Vox Cantab
The Rosemary Consort Brass Ensemble
Director Louisa Denby Organ John Bachelor Soprano Catherine White & Julia Kemp Alto David McGregor Bass Matthew Innes & Thomas Mullock
Sunday 31st January 2016 1.15pm, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
In what has become an annual fixture, Vox Cantab returned once again to the Fitzwilliam Museum on 31 January for a Sunday-lunchtime recital, consisting of a semi-staged performance of John Rutter’s Wind in the Willows.
The Magistrate sentences Toad.
Matthew Innes Mole Chris Patrick Toad Addison Shore Rat Thomas Mullock Badger Julia Kemp Gaoler’s Daughter Frank Lee Magistrate Toby Matimong Usher
Assorted Wildlife Will Bosworth, Toby Matimong, Catherine White, Carys Brown, Rhian Davies, Julia Kemp
Vox Cantab’s 2015 summer tour began with a much-anticipated return to the lovely Trefin Chapel, near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, where the Choir were extremely warmly-received in 2013. We also gave a performance in St Mary’s, Haverfordwest, and in St Davids Cathedral, as part of their summer recital series. The week finished with Evensong at the Cathedral, and we were delighted to have Dr Rowan Williams in the congregation.
We were pleased to welcome back prize-winning organist Tim Parsons to play and conduct for us once more, along with our director Louisa Denby. The Choir also undertook visits to local hospices and nursing homes as part of our Summer Outreach Project.
The programme included a range of music both sacred and secular, from 16th-century polyphony through to our own arrangements of Welsh Folk Songs. The audience joined in enthusiastically when the opportunity arose!
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Monday 17th August, 7.30pm St Mary’s Church, Haverfordwest
Wednesday 19th August, 7.30pm St Davids Cathedral, St Davids
Like as the Hart | A Concert of Psalm Settings
In concert.
The programme included works by Renaissance composers Byrd, Lassus, and Palestrina, and moving through the centuries Purcell, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Vaughan Williams, and others, finishing with a new work, ‘The Lord is King’, but our very own Timothy Parsons, and Parry’s iconic ‘I was Glad’.
Tuesday 18th August, 9.30pm
Trefin Chapel, Trefin, Pembrokeshire
Choral Compline
Introit Jesu, the very thought – Bairstow Anthem My soul, there is a country – Parry Antiphon Salve Regina – Poulenc
Pre-service hilarity.
Thursday 20th August, 6pm St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire
Evensong
Responses Reading Canticles Tomkins Second Anthem Locus iste – Bruckner
Monday 1st June saw Vox Cantab return to Downing College to give a Music Society recital in the E-staircase Music Room (where Tchaikovsky once stayed before receiving his honorary Cambridge degree!).
Programme
Best of The Beach Boys – Wilson/Usher/Love arr. Lojeski
Mamma Mia
S.O.S.
Super Trouper
Money, Money, Money
Thank You for the Music
Our thanks to Nadanai Laohakunahorn for accompanying us again so ably, and to Dick Taplin of Downing College, for declaring us ‘Super Troupers’ as he thanked us for the music, before taking this rather arty photograph.
The new Tickell organ at Downing College, Cambridge.
On Sunday 17th May at 6pm, members of Vox Cantab sang Evensong in the splendidly-refurbished Chapel at Downing College, Cambridge, accompanied by the fabulous new Tickell organ. The music included anthems by Williams Byrd and Mundy, and an organ voluntary by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.
al, and we were delighted to have Dr Rowan Williams in the congregation.
