The traditional and the new for Christmas choral concert

TWO very different choral works will be performed by Lord Williams’s Festival Chorus on Saturday, December 7 – one by a relatively unknown composer and the other by one of the most popular and performed composers in the world today.

Led by Musical Director Jeff Stewart, the chorus will sing a work by Austrian composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Hummel is largely unknown despite writing works of genius including his Mass in E flat. Born in 1778, he was a child prodigy, studying under Mozart, Salieri and Haydn, and was rated as one of the top pianists of his time. Contemporaries held him to be Beethoven’s equal in both keyboard improvisation and composing. He was highly respected and admired but after his death his music was quickly forgotten, and he was generally overshadowed by both Beethoven and Mozart. His music is now becoming re-established in the classical repertoire thanks to an increase in the number of live concerts across the world.

The choir will also perform Karl Jenkins’ Gloria, a vibrant piece that sets the Latin text ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo’ interspersed with short readings of sacred texts from different religions and incorporates a setting of Psalm 150 sung in Hebrew. The piece has all of Jenkins’ hallmark style with quirky rhythms, contrasting big sounds alongside quieter, contemplative pieces, and hypnotic ethnic percussion.

The concert is at Thame Leisure Centre and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are £13 adult, £10 concessions, £1 under 18s and available from choir members, on the door and online at Eventbrite via: www.lordwilliamsfestivalchorus.org.uk