Upcoming concerts
June 8th 2024, 1.00pm
The Mount School, Dalton Terrace, York, YO24 4DD
A Quaker Trilogy: from concept to completion
A Festival of Ideas event hosted by The Mount School
Free admission (by ticket, available in due course through the Festival of Ideas box office)
A Quaker Trilogy grew from a concept to inspire young composers at the beginning of their careers by offering funds for the commission of three pieces for the Micklegate Singers. The brief was simple: the composers could choose whichever words they felt they wanted to work with from a passage written by William Penn that is often read at Quaker memorial meetings. The fruits of their labours have proved to be a challenge for the choir, but the pieces are all remarkable, and each has been loved by the choir in rehearsal and by the audiences at their respective first performances.
The three composers (David McGregor, Joe Bates, and Frederick Viner) will be given an opportunity to tell us what the appeal of the text was, how they selected which words to set, and what musical thoughts and construction techniques lay behind their compositions.
The three pieces comprising A Quaker Trilogy, now published by University of York Music Press, will be performed by the Micklegate Singers, under their Musical Director, Nicholas Carter.
July 6th, 2024, 7.30pm
St Chad’s Church, Campleshon Rd, York YO23 1PE
A Bouquet of Stars
An engaging mix of music that transports us from lilies and roses to sun, moon and stars, by way of the Apollo mission.
The composers include Charles Stanford, Eric Whitacre, Alec Roth and Morten Lauridsen.
God and the Universe: Charles Stanford
The Apotheosis of Apollo: Melissa Dunphy
Underneath the stars: Kate Rusby, arr. Jim Clements
Sicut Lilium: John Barber
Sicut Lilium inter Spinas: Antoine Brumel
With a Lily in your Hand: Eric Whitacre
En une seule fleur: Morten Lauridsen
Grandmother Moon: Eleanor Daley
Blue Moon: Richard Rogers arr. Blackwell
Stargazer: Alec Roth
Sing to the Moon: Laura Mvula
Mate Saule (Mother Sun): Petris Vasks
'And there were Shepherds...'
Music for Advent and Christmas, particularly as seen through the eyes of the Shepherds, featuring Palestrina, Leighton, Dove, McDowall, Chilcott and more. With the first performances of two Micklegate Singers commissions: The Road of Evening composed by James Else, and Joe Bates’ Absence.
Palestrina: Rorate Coeli
Lassus: Quem vidistis, pastores?
Chilcott: The Shepherds’ Carol
Gustav Holst: This have I done for my true love
Richard Dering: Quem vidistis, pastores?
Jonathan Dove: Welcome all wonders in one sight
David Bednall: BC:AD - This was the Moment
Alexander L’Estrange: Epiphany Carol
Cecilia McDowall: Now may we singen
Kenneth Leighton: A Hymn of the Nativity
Joe Bates: Absence
James Else: The Road of Evening
Francis Poulenc: Quem vidistis, pastores?
Richard Rodney Bennett: Gloria, Gloria
Elemental Forces
Earth, Wind and Fire are all represented in this varied programme which also touches on the Seasons, and that most elemental of forces - Love.
As in each concert this year, we are including the premiere of a piece specially written for the Micklegate Singers.
Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Spring Time of the Year; Over Hill, Over Dale
EJ Moeran: Spring the Sweet Spring
Camille Saint-Saëns: Les Fleurs et les Arbres; Calme des Nuits
Joseph Kosma (arr. Andrew Carter): Autumn Leaves
Edward Elgar: O Wild West Wind; Weary Wind of the West
Herbert Howells: The Shadows
John Ireland: The Hills
Claude Debussy: Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain
Peter Moger: The Dove Descending (first performance)
with pieces by Peter Klatzow, Ola Gjeilo, James Whitbourn, Jussi Chydenius and Phillip Cooke
Star of the Sea
A concert of old and new music in honour of the Virgin Mary, the Star of the Sea. Lobo’s Missa Sancta Maria dates from 1621, the golden age of Portuguese polyphony. In addition to being hailed as Star of the Sea, Mary is also known as the Queen of Heaven, which is reflected in other works in our programme. We also include the delayed premiere of a Micklegate commission by David McGregor, They That Love Beyond the World. This atmospheric piece is the first of three collaborations with young composers at The University of York, setting words written by William Penn, an early Quaker and the founder of Pennsylvania.
Our full programme is as follows:
Missa Sancta Maria - Duarte Lôbo
Regina Caeli - Cecilia McDowall
Ave Maris Stella - Edvard Grieg
Ave Maris Stella - Tomás Luis De Victoria
Salve Regina - Pierre Villette
Splendid Jewel - Stephen Paulus
Ave Regina Caelorum - Alonso Lobo
Ave Regina Caelorum - Peter Philips
Ave Regina Caelorum - Cecilia McDowall
Hortus Conclusus - Rodrigo Ceballos
They That Love Beyond the World - David McGregor
(A Micklegate Singers commission, first performance)