AFTER two years without any performances at all due to the pandemic, Crowborough Choral Society is very much looking forward to performing Handel’s sensational music on Saturday November 20. The event will take place at St Mark’s Church, Broadwater Down in Tunbridge Wells, where we have been made very welcome.
The concert starts with the anthem Zadok the Priest, composed by Handel in 1727 to celebrate the coronation of George II. Handel was influenced by the work of the Venetian composer Vivaldi and our programme continues with Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets.
The main item of the concert is Part One of Handel’s masterpiece Messiah which describes the Nativity of Christ. The final item is the well-known favourite, the Hallelujah Chorus.
The vocal soloists are from the Royal College of Music and the choir is accompanied by the Sussex Sinfonietta under the leadership of Christopher Phipps. Christopher Harris plays continuo organ and harpsichord. The concert is conducted by choir Music Director, Mark Beesley.
This will be Crowborough Choral Society’s first concert since November 2019 when they sang J.S Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at All Saints Church in Crowborough with members of their German partner choir, the Rellinger Kantorei from near Hamburg also present.
For over forty years there has been a warm association between the two choirs and the Kantorei also joined Crowborough Choral Society for our last performance of Messiah in 2015. This evening of Handel’s choral music promises to be one of great excitement and enjoyment.
Tickets are available from the choir’s website: crowboroughchoral
