Concert suits everyone to a tea

THE Allegri Ensemble’s Tea for Two concert in Hobart on Sunday will not only be a pleasure to hear, but will also be accompanied by a sumptuous afternoon tea.

The program, directed by Andrew Bainbridge, will be a departure from the choir’s usual repertoire, with popular and folk songs as well as part songs.

They will include Ravel’s only work for unaccompanied choir, Trois Chansons, written in response to the horrors of World War I, which Ravel experienced first-hand as a transport driver.

Ravel wrote the libretto himself, and the work references the pastoral atmosphere and simple tunes of Renaissance chansons. Renaissance composer Clement Janequin’s Le Chant

des Oyseaux features lyrical lines as well as fast rhythms using imitation bird sounds instead of words, and evokes an awakening after winter. Part songs include The Evening Primrose by Britten,

Over Hill Over Dale by Vaughan Williams, The Blue Bird by Charles Villiers Standford, and Sir Patrick Spens by Robert Pearsall.

Folk songs from Ireland, Finland and the US will be featured, as well as the Morten Lauridsen madrigal Amor io Sento l’Alma. Upbeat and popular songs will include Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I Got Rhythm and the title work, Tea for Two.

The Allegri Ensemble’s Tea for Two concert is at the Hobart Town Hall at 3pm on Sunday. Tickets include afternoon tea and are $40, available from Centertainment.