Artists
Adrian Partington – conductor
Roderick Williams – baritone
Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay – violin
Three Choirs Festival Chorus
Gloucester Cathedral Choristers
Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir
Programme
Alberga Rise up, O Sun! (World premiere)
Vaughan Williams Sancta Civitas
— Interval —
Elgar Violin Concerto
Vaughan Williams’s Sancta Civitas was strongly influenced by the horrors of the First World War. The music portrays the dreadful annihilation of Babylon’s armies and mourns the destruction of the city, before the beautiful violin solo introduces the holy city and unites all in peace and love for ever. The piece ends in quiet longing for an end to earthly wars and conflict.
Continuing the yearning tones of the violin, our Joint Concert Master Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay is the soloist in Elgar’s Violin Concerto. A sweeping romance, the concerto has been loved by audiences since it was first heard at a private party before the Three Choirs Festival in 1910.
Opening the concert is Eleanor Alberga’s setting of words from William Blake’s Vala, or The Four Zoas, depicting a pastoral paradise with glorious imagery.
Need to know
Prices & Discounts
£15 – £60
Running time:
2 hrs 15 mins, including an interval
Box office
