A Celebration of Summer from Christ’s Hospital Choral Society

Spokeswoman Esther Clark said: “McDowall’s A Fancy of Folksongs (2013) are all about the joyful celebration of young love and courtship, offering new perspectives on age-old tales in a fun way.

“Serenade to Music is a most beautiful piece for, at times, 12 parts, where the harmonies are heavenly. The piece was written to honour Sir Henry Wood to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his first concert and Wood conducted the first performance at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1938. Rachmaninov, playing his Second Piano Concert in the first half of the concert was overcome with the beauty of the harmonies, it is said. The piece is cleverly written to words by Shakespeare taken from The Merchant of Venice.

“Elgar’s As Torrents in Summer portrays a summer’s atmosphere with its cloudless skies – and torrents – features in the concert, as well as Linden Lea, Strawberry Fair and other English folksongs.

“The choral society support the exceptional standard of the pupils’ musical life at the school, and so on the evening some of the performers and soloists may be senior pupils, some of whom will be leaving soon to read music at university.

“The conductor will be Jonathan Lee while usual musical director Verity Branson is on maternity leave. This concert takes place in the Courtroom where the choir will be accompanied on a Steinway piano.

“Do come and support the performance on Saturday, June 7 at 7.30pm in the Courtroom at Christ’s Hospital School, RH13 0LJ. Tickets £10 in advance, £12.50 on the door or £5 for under-16s. For further information please visit chchoralsoc.org or contact the box office on 01403 247434. Hope to see you there!”

Christ’s Hospital Choral Society was formed in 1988 so that members of staff and people from the wider community could sing a range of choral music. All voices are welcome – soprano, alto, tenor and bass. No connection with the school is necessary to belong. They rehearse on a Tuesday evening at Christ’s Hospital and perform four concerts each year.