Project #2020 began on February 15th with the first of two identical concerts in Dry Drayton, the second taking place two weeks later in Comberton, near Cambridge. We hugely enjoyed singing a variety of classics both sacred and secular, serious and light, from (mostly) English composers through the ages, and would like to give special thanks to the large audience at Comberton, at whom our director made her banana-throwing début…
Fresh from our Belgium tour we sang two concerts in and around Cambridge in September, entitled ‘Ave Maria’, with similar programmes to those sung in Ghent.
Our thanks to all those who came along to hear the concerts, and generously donated to the churches’ charitable causes. We are also grateful to Rev Alan Partridge and Fr Stephen Anderson for their help in facilitating the events.
Sunday 7th April, 8pm
St Mark’s Church, Barton Road, Cambridge
We were delighted to have the opportunity once again to work with the fabulous Sarah Tenant-Flowers for this performance of the Victoria Requiem, interspersed with readings from T S Eliot, narrated by Andrew Watts, who has read for us on previous occasions. It was an intense weekend, with rehearsals all day on the Saturday, and then again on Sunday afternoon (with a brief pause to watch the Boat Race, of course), followed by the concert. Our thanks to everyone who came to hear it.
Recording of works by Jonathan Willcocks
We were delighted to be asked by Priory Records and our patron Jonathan Willcocks to make a CD recording of a number of his works. We were joined by Southern Pro Musica, with whom we have worked on numerous occasions, and soloists Gareth Brynmor John and Josephine Goddard, for an intense two-and-a-half days, in the beautiful surroundings of Downing Chapel, Cambridge.
The CD should be available from December 2018 – just in time for Christmas!
Sunday 28th January 2018, 1.15pm
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Vox Cantab made their annual pilgrimage to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, for a lunchtime concert among the museum’s treasures.
The programme this year featured music inspired by the history of the gallery in which we performed – secular music charting the history and development of Music Hall, including works by Cornysh and Pearsall, Sullivan and Barnby, and solo songs by Glover-Kind, Edgar & Wright, and Clarke & Warren. Members of the audience were warmly encouraged to join in at appropriate moments, which they did with enthusiasm, including the clock!
Director & Piano Louisa Denby
Soloists Julia Kemp, Thomas Athorne, and Chris Ainsworth-Patrick
Friday 15th September, 8pm
St Peter’s, Barton, nr. Cambridge
‘A Harvest Meditation’
We were very pleased to have the opportunity to sing once more at St Peter’s. The programme was a lovely mix of the sacred and the secular – music by Elgar and Rutter, and readings from works by Ted Hughes, Laurie Lee, and John Betjeman. With thanks to the vicar and congregation for hosting us.
Monday 31st July 2017
8pm, Pembroke College Chapel, Cambridge
Tuesday 1st August 2017
8pm, St Mark’s Church, Newnham, Cambridge
Once again we were delighted to perform some well-known choral classics in two of our favourite Cambridge venues. The programmes included works by renaissance composers G. P. da Palestrina, Orlande de Lassus, and Thomas Morley, later works by C. V. Stanford and William Harris, and some 20th-century and contemporary pieces by composers such as Ola Gjeilo, Michael Tippett, and Cole Porter. Thank you very much to all those who packed out the two venues!
April Tour 2017
We had a lovely few days away at the end of March/beginning of April 2017, singing at the Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge, and giving concerts and singing Evensong in churches in Cambridgeshire villages and St Stephen’s, Rochester Row, London. We were delighted to be joined by our very own Oliver Hancock, who directed the Sunday Sung Eucharist at the Old Royal Naval College Chapel in Greenwich.
The concert programmes consisted of music and readings on themes of Transport and Travel; repertoire ranged from Guerrero and Gibbons through to John Rutter’s Heavenly Aeroplane and Mac Huff’s brilliant arrangement of the Chattanooga Choo Choo, accompanied by Louisa Denby.
Andrew Watts and Charlotte Denby read extracts from the Bible and fictional works such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, David Copperfield, and I am David, as well as poetry by John Heath-Stubbs and Pablo Neruda.
It was very pleasant to receive this excellent review of our Hildersham concert: http://johnbald.typepad.com/language/interludes/
Sunday 29th January 2017
1.15pm, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
We made our annual visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on Sun 29 Jan, this time for a programme of German-related music, featuring Elgar’s Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, and motets by Brahms and Mendelssohn. It was a pleasure as always to perform in this fabulous venue.
Louisa Denby Director
Toby Hession Piano
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.
