Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Celebration of Irish composer
In the first ‘break out’ concert celebration of its kind, the Festival is holding a three-day celebration of the music of Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford as part of its 2017 line-up.
Stanford (1852- 1924) was one of the leading musicians of his generation. A performer, conductor, composer, teacher and writer, he is largely remembered for his songs and religious music.
Long-time Stanford enthusiast the Dean of Canterbury, the Very Rev Robert Willis, introduces the opening concert, A Cathedral Celebration, held in the glorious Cathedral Quire on Friday, November 3 with a programme that includes the Te Deum Laudamus in B flat, with music by the Cathedral Choir together with the Jubilate Brass.
The stand-out Festival concert, We Looked for Peace, in the Cathedral includes a world premiere by violinist Tasmin Little with the internationally acclaimed English Chamber Orchestra, who play Stanford’s Variations for Violin Solo and Orchestra. It is followed by Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams (a pupil of Stanford).
Two Saturday morning talks by Stanford scholar Dr Adele Commins in the Old Synagogue are followed by a lunchtime recital by Madeleine Mitchell (violin) and Rudi Eastwood (piano) of Stanford’s Three Characteristic Pieces, as well as works by Goossens, Howells and Bridge (all pupils of Stanford) in St Gregory’s Centre for Music.
All the way from the Netherlands, the 57-strong Toonkunstkoor Leiden choir sing works by Stanford, including Fairy Day and Songs of the Fleet, while the Dante Quartet – who hold a sevenyear residency at King’s College and are recording Stanford’s complete quartets (many of them unpublished) bring the weekend to a close with Stanford’s Quartet No.3 at the Colyer-fergusson Hall.