Come, listen to us!
Summer Concert 2024
Music of Brahms and Fauré
Our upcoming concert features two of the best known of the Romantic composers, bringing a summer luminance to the evening. We will perform two pieces by Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) who is considered one of the most influential of French composers, linking the end of Romanticism with the beginnings of the modern era. Our third piece is by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), the highly respected German who is also considered a leading composer in the Romantic period.
In the first half of the concert we will sing Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11, composed when he was just twenty. Rich and melodic, it is thought to be a precursor to the Requiem. The words of this choral piece are a translation by 17th century French poet, Jean Racine, of a Latin hymn “Consors patterni luminis” (“O Light of Light”). Our second piece is Brahms’s short, powerful composition Schicksalslied Op. 54 (“Song of Destiny”), which is a choral setting of a poem written by Friedrich Hölderlin, where the blessed heavenly existence of the gods is contrasted with the doomed suffering of humanity. It is considered to be one of his best choral works.
We will perform Fauré’s Requiem Op.48 in the second half of the concert. This well-known, well-loved requiem, which Fauré himself says has been called a “lullaby of death”, is a delicate and luminous work with daring harmonic progressions and sudden modulations, composed with elegance and a deceptive air of simplicity.
Conducted by Sanda Audere, the choir is joined by soloists Yun Park (soprano) and Johan Vermeer (baritone) accompanied by the RBO Sinfonia and organist Bert Mooiman
The concert will be held on Friday 28 June at the historic Lutherse Kerk, Lutherse Burgwal 7, 2512 CB Den Haag, starting at 20:00
Tickets are available at:
https://www.ticketkantoor.nl/shop/cecilia-2024
Past performances
For our Christmas 2023 concerts the title was ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ from the piece we sang with music composed by Morten Lauridsen. This haunting piece captured the miraculous mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ. Our programme also included a beautiful selection of seasonal songs modern and old, such as Exsultate justi by Ludovico da Viadana, Rachmaninoff’s Bogoroditse Devo, Spotless Rose by Ola Gjeilo and In the bleak midwinter by Harold Darke, and many others. In addition, we sang our usual traditional carols when the audience is invited to participate.
Our Summer Concert 2023 was Dido & Aeneas by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell and was written around 1684-85. It is a short semi-staged opera with the story based on Greek and Roman mythology and set after the Trojan war, which was probably located in what is now Turkey. The concert was a change for the choir who enjoyed it very much. We were joined by professional singers and musicians with a set especially designed for the evening.
What Sweeter Music was the title of our Christmas Concerts in 2022. The words are from the beautiful and tender Christmas song written by Robert Herrick (1591–1674) with music composed by John Rutter. The programme also featured pieces by the American Daniel Elder ‘Ballade to the Moon’, Norwegian Ola Gjeilo ‘A Spotless Rose’, British Howard Goodall ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ and Estonian Arvo Pärt ‘Bogoroditse Djevo’. The programme also included some traditional and lively songs such as ‘I Saw Three Ships’ and provided opportunities for the audience to join in the singing of well known carols.
Mozart Requiem & Madrigals was the title of our Summer Concert in 2022. We performed a selection of English Madrigals from Shakespeare’s time along with one of the most famous choral works in the classical repertoire, Mozart’s Requiem. The choir was conducted by Sanda Audere and joined by soloists Bethany Shepherd (soprano), Tim Braithwaite (alto), Stefan Kennedy (tenor) and Jonty Coy (bass), accompanied by organist Wim Voogd and a Viol Consort led by Alex Baker. The concert was held at the historic Lutherse Kerk in Den Haag.
Recordings of fragments from some performances may be downloaded by clicking the Recordings page.
A selection of posters from recent years is set out below, most of the artwork was done by Colin Reeves with the most recent posters designed by Annemieke Louwerens. Click on the image for an enlargement.
