Battle Choral Society would like to welcome you to their next concert where the audience will be entertained by two pieces by well-known composers – Purcell and Handel. We are pleased to welcome our soloists Grace Constable (soprano), Dierdre Aratoon (alto), Gary Marriot (tenor) and Peter Gravett (bass). We are also lucky to have Nigel Howard (organ) and Duncan Reid (piano).

Purcell’s ‘Ode to St Cecelia’ was written, to a text by an Irish man named Nicolas Brady, in 1692. It honours the feast day of St Cecelia – patron saint of musicians.Beginning in 1683, celebrations were made to St Cecelia and this piece to be performed by Battle choir is the most famous. First performed on 22 September 1692 it received an encore.

Also to be performed, and probably better known to current audiences are Handel’s Four Coronation Anthems – the most well-known probably being Zadok the Priest. These were written in 1727 for the Coronation of George II and Queen Caroline.Along with Zadok the priest we have ‘Let thy hand be strengthened’, ‘The King shall rejoice’ and ‘Thy Heart is i

Inditing’. These anthems were commissioned when Handel was naturalised as a British citizen and were an immediate success. Zadok, being the most well-known has been performed at every coronation since 1727.

As usual, our concert is free, with donations welcome.

The free concert will take place at St Mary’s Church, Battle at 7.30 pm (donations for local charities welcome).