The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is familiar to many Chicagoans through its annual Christmas Eve special, "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols," which is broadcast every year on 98.7 WFMT.
Devotees of the English choral tradition can hear the world-famous Choir performing live at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago on Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is part of the Symphony Center Presents (SCP) concert series.
Stephen Cleobury has served as the Choir's music director for 30 years. He will lead the group in traditional and contemporary English choral music, as well as selections by French composers Fauré and Poulenc. The March 24 program also features a solo organ work by organist and composer Naji Hakim.
The concert will include two anthems from the Choir's most recent recording, English Hymn Anthems. I recently had the opportunity to ask Cleobury, who was touring with the Choir on the East Coast last week, about some of the works on the Chicago program, including the anthems "Hear My Words" by Herbert Parry and "Lord, thou has been my refuge" by Vaughan Williams. I asked him to explain the difference between hymns and anthems:
"Anthems come in many shapes and forms, but are nearly always settings of words from the Bible, although some use religious poetry for a text," Cleobury said. "They are usually written to be sung by a choir. Hymns, in contrast, are nearly always based on poetry, although the poems are very often linked to or inspired by words from the Bible. Musically they are simpler in form than anthems, as they are intended for massed congregational singing."
Additional program highlights include British composer Judith Weir's Illuminare, Jerusalem, written for and first performed by the choir in 1985 for its internationally-recognized service of Lessons and Carols. This contemporary carol is inspired by an anonymous 15th-century manuscript and also by Isaiah 60:1, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."
Cleobury said "In 1983 I began annually to commission a new carol for our Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and Judith was one of the first to contribute to this series. It is a model of what a carol composition should be, consisting as it does of three verses, each with its refrain. The text is a 15th century one from the north-east of England or just possibly across the Scottish border and like many medieval poems, it is written in a mixture of English and Latin."
Another modern work on the program is Naji Hakim's Hommage à Igor Stravinsky. Organ scholar Thomas Etheridge will perform the final movement of this three-movement work. Etheridge has said about this piece, "Employing the eastern modalities, and driving motor rhythms which feature so strongly in Stravinsky's own music, Hakim takes the opportunity to demonstrate the great power, tonal diversity, and percussive impact of the organ."
The Choir, made up of 16 choristers, 14 choral scholars and two organ scholars, was founded by King Henry VI in the 15th Century. While the Choir exists primarily to sing the daily services in King's College Chapel, its international fame and reputation has been enhanced by an extensive recording catalogue and performances around the world.
The ensemble commissioned a work from composer Nicholas Maw for its 500th anniversary celebration in 1990. The work that resulted, Maw's "One foot in Eden," will also be included on the Chicago program.
"We wanted to commission a leading composer to mark this important anniversary in the life of the College," Cleobury said. "The idea of approaching Nicholas Maw came from his publisher Robin Boyle, who is a former Choral Scholar and himself a fellow benefactor of the College. I was delighted when Maw selected the wonderful poem by Edwin Muir, which he sets in a direct and highly imaginative way. A feature of the piece is the dialogue between a small semi-chorus and the main choir."
More information about this program at Fourth Presbyterian Church is available at cso.org.
