Carols for Everyone

 

Carols at Christchurch 

The Royal Free Singers’ annual carol concert at Christchurch is always a special occasion and a warm welcome is extended to everyone.

The programme includes favourite carols for audience participation as well as festive readings.

Coffee (or squashes) and mince pies will be served during the interval.

There will be a retiring collection for Medicins Sans Frontières and the Windsor Homeless Project

Saint-Sans and Blackford

The Royal Free Singers
Autumn Concert 2015


A visit to Assisi in 1995 gave Richford Blackford an encounter with the life and works of St Francis that he described as a ‘personal epiphany’. He took the title of his setting of seven Canticles by St Francis from that of a biography by the saint’s companion, Leo of Assisi. Commissioned by the Royal Ballet School, Mirror of Perfection was first performed in March 1996 at the Royal College of Music and is now one of his critically acclaimed choral works.


Following their participation in our Zimbe concert with Alexander L’Estrange in 2012, the Royal Free Singers again welcome the Dedworth Middle School Choir’s contribution to the performance.


Francis of Assisi is credited with popularising the Christmas crib (as portrayed by Giotto), so a Christmas themed work seems an appropriate companion piece at this season. Saint-Saëns's devotional, and mostly contemplative Christmas Oratorio (or Oratorio de Noël) is an early work, written in 1858 when he was just 23, so pre-dating his more well-known works such as the Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre and the Organ Symphony. Intentionally paying homage to J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in style, Saint-Saëns’ music is nevertheless very French in its proportions, clarity of expression and elegant lines.

Ticket prices:

• £12
• £1 for under 12s,
• £5 for 12-16 year-olds
• Special block booking rates for churches and other organisations -
  10+ tickets 20% discount, if booked in advance.

For tickets:-

• Phone:  01628 638984
• Email: lambourne2@talktalk.net
• Order though our Contact Us page 
• Call in: The Royal Windsor Information Centre, Royal Windsor Station, Windsor

The Royal Free Singers Summer concert 2015

Two masses: Jongen and Faure

The two works in this concert are both tuneful expositions of the Latin Mass: the well known and loved Fauré Requiem and the, until now, hardly known Mass Opus 130 by the Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953), described by John W. Ehrlich, Music Director of the Spectrum Singers of Cambridge, Massachusetts, as "one of the most beautiful and accessible pieces of 20th century choral music I know."  Jongen composed it in July 1945 in thanksgiving for his son's release from Buchenwald earlier that year and dedicated it to his late brother, the Reverend Canon Alphonse Jongen of Liege Cathedral.  He added the Credo in 1948.  Nearly forgotten for the next 40 years, in recent years it has been performed with increasing frequency throughout the world.  

The background image shows the interior of Liege Cathedral, where the Jongen Mass was first performed.

Ticket prices:

• £12
• £1 for under 12s,
• £5 for 12-16 year-olds
• Special block booking rates for churches and other organisations -
  10+ tickets 20% discount, if booked in advance.

For tickets:-

• Phone:  01628 638984
• Email: lambourne2@talktalk.net
• Order though our Contact Us page 
• Call in: The Royal Windsor Information Centre, Royal Windsor Station, Windsor

Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons)

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) The Seasons

Both of Haydn's late oratorios are settings of texts based on English epic poetry: The Creation on John Milton's Paradise Lost and The Seasons on James Thomson’s epic poem of the same name, written in 1730.  It is a depiction of pre-industrial rural life that touches on love, friendship, hardship, success as well as harvest celebrations.  Using a German translation of sections of Thomson’s poem, Haydn began work on it in 1798, shortly after the well-received first performance of The Creation, and completed it in 1801.  Like The Creation, it calls for soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, chorus and a large orchestra including four horns and three trombones.