7.30pm, St John’s Church, Carrington, Saturday 12th October 2024
Nottingham Chamber Singers present:
Come, Comfort of the World: Songs of Hope and Consolation
A concert bringing the vitality and expressive detailing of a chamber choir performance to the presentation of works of hope and consolation.
Bach’s intimate Komm, Jesu, Komm takes us from earthly despair to comfort in the hope of heaven. Reger’s beautiful motet, with its rich, subtly shifting harmonies, evokes the restfulness of night and soothes away worldly cares. Brahms’ well-loved Requiem, both dramatic and comforting, appears in a fresh light in this chamber music version, with piano duet, the rarely-heard format which Brahms designed for the first London performance in 1871.
Performers
Formerly known as the East of England Singers, the Nottingham Chamber Singers have a busy concert schedule performing works across the full choral range, from William Byrd to Judith Weir. The choir’s refreshingly dynamic and committed performances continue to receive critical and public acclaim, led by Assistant conductor and Music for Everyone’s Assistant Artistic Director, Rachel Parkes.
Abigail Barker, soprano
Abigail Barker is a 22-year-old Nottingham born Soprano, currently in her third year of BMus Vocal Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, under the tutelage of Patricia Rozario OBE and Helen Yorke, Vocal Coach. Recent engagements for Abigail include: performing in the final of the Elisabeth Schumann Lieder competition, singing in a masterclass with renowned soprano Ailish Tynan and performing as the soprano soloist in Pergolesi’s ‘Stabat Mater’, held in Blackheath. Other notable highlights include: singing in the Junior Kathleen Ferrier awards and competing in the final of the Lilian Ash French Song competition at Trinity Laban. She has also performed the Brahm’s Requiem with the Rodolfus Choir and the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in Southbank. Last year, Abigail was delighted to be the recipient of the Liz Chant Bursary prize through the Nottingham Bach Choir and is currently in preparation for singing as the soloist in their summer concert. From receiving the bursary, she was then able to take part in the SienAgosto Summer Academy, led by Michael Chance CBE, where she undertook solo performance opportunities within the Contrada di Valdimontone and the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena. She is also looking forward to going up to Edinburgh for Malcom Martineu’s summer school ‘Oxenfoord’ this August.
William Burn, baritone
Baritone William Burn enjoys a busy career as a performer of oratorio and consort music from the Middle Ages to contemporary music. A native of Oxfordshire, he trained as a choral scholar at King’s College, London, then moving to live in Nuremberg, Germany, and finally settling in the East Midlands.
William has performed many oratorio roles, including the Bach Passions, Messiah, Judas Maccabeus, The Creation (including under the baton of Sir Nicholas McGegan at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall), Elijah, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, Dvorak Stabat Mater, Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater and the requiems by Verdi, Mozart, Faure and Duruflé. Staged opera performances include Dido and Aeneas, Acis and Galatea, Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne, and Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley as part of the RossonWye International Festival.
A particular area of interest for song and Lieder, with recent programmes including Winterreise, Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Opus 24 and 39 cycles, Richard Rodney Bennett’s Songs Before Sleep, Wolf’s Michaelangelolieder and Quilter’s Seven Elizabethan Lyrics, along with Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad at Southwell Minster and Dichterliebe in Derby Cathedral. William is the artistic director of The Nottingham Baroque Soloists, whose repertoire includes cantatas by Bach, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. He studies with Rachel Nicholls.
William also works as a translator and subtitler from German, specialising in academia and the social sciences. His recent work includes reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council and reports on human rights issues in Germany. He also provides English-language translations for the German Federal Government Press Agency. As a subtitler he specialises in documentaries for Arte, including work on arts, culture and human rights.
Conductor
Rachel Parkes was born and raised in Northamptonshire. She received her early musical education through the Royal School of Church Music and Northamptonshire County Performing Arts Service, and went on to gain a first class Honours degree in Music, and later a Masters in Music an
d Performance, from Royal Holloway, University of London. During her studies Rachel studied singing with Margaret Cable and Jessica Cash, she now receives coaching from Lynne Wayman.
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Tickets
Click here to find out about the NCS 40th Anniversary Ticket Discount Scheme (NB This link will take you to the Nottingham Chamber Singers website)
Full £14, Concession £13, Child/Student £5
Tickets are available to buy online, or by calling the office on 01159589312. Tickets will also be available to buy on the door.
On Saturday 5th March, the Nottingham Chamber Singers (formerly EOES) will be performing a programme of music to soothe your senses, with a springtime theme of reflection, remembrance and renewal. The choir will be joined by an eclectic mix of instrumentalists for their performance of the Rutter Requiem, Brahms Four songs for upper voices, Schumann’s Six songs for lower voices, and local composer Guy Turner’s Songs and legends of Robin Hood. We will also feature two contemporary settings of music set to the texts of Lord Byron, who incidentally is buried in the graveyard of the parish church of Hucknall where the concert is taking place. It promises to be a romantic feast for the senses, we hope you can join us… book your tickets now! 7.30pm concert at St Mary Magdalene Church, Hucknall.
