Saturday 27 September; 7.30pm
Online sales for this concert have ended; last few tickets available on the door. Abbey opens 6.45pm.
This year, the Festival Chorus & Orchestra perform one of Western music’s greatest ever works, the Requiem Mass in D minor by Mozart (completed by Süssmayr), as well as two rarely-heard works by Benjamin Britten – Canticle 2 Abraham and Isaac, and Imogen Holst’s orchestration of the anthem, Rejoice in the Lamb. They are joined by an outstanding line-up of soloists and directed by well-known local musician David Murray.
Soloists:
Sebastian Hill – Tenor
Brittany King – Soprano
Tom Lilburn – Countertenor
James Birchall – Bass-Baritone
Reserved seating is available in the Nave. A limited number of lower priced tickets are available in the North Aisle which are unreserved and could have restricted view.
£22 Nave, reserved / £15 unreserved North aisle – restricted view and limited availability / £5 under 16s & students
Sponsored by: Parmley Graham Ltd.
About the soloists:
SEBASTIAN HILL – Tenor
Sebastian is currently studying on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford. He studies with David Pollard and is supported by the H R Taylor Trust, Drake Calleja Trust and The Countess of Munster Trust.
He is an Opera Holland Park Young Artist covering the title role in Jonathan Dove’s Itch and was previously a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus. He was awarded first prize in the London Bach Society Competition as well as the Patricia Routledge English Song Competition.
Recent debuts include Britten’s Serenade at the Barbican conducted by Roberto González-Monjas, and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge in Schaffhausen, Zürich, Bern and Basel with Camerata Variable. Song highlights include a Goethe celebration at Wigmore Hall accompanied by Graham Johnson, the International Lied Festival Zeist, and the Oxford International Song Festival where he is a Young Artist.
BRITTANY KING – Soprano
Canadian soprano Brittany King is a versatile soloist in oratorio, opera, and recital across the UK and Canada. Described as “vibrant,” “angelic,” and “first-class” (Charles Hutch Press), she has performed at major UK cathedrals including St Paul’s, York Minster, and Salisbury.
Highlights of her 2024/25 season include the Tilford Bach Festival, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with The Mahler Orchestra, Bach’s St John Passion with Clevedon Choral Society, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Spires Music, and Fauré’s Requiem and Mozart’s Solemn Vespers at Worcester Cathedral. A regular soloist at St Paul’s Cathedral, she recently sang Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai.
Other engagements include Fauré’s and Haydn’s Requiems at York Minster, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem at Salisbury Cathedral, and the premiere of Voyage to America with the English Symphony Orchestra.
In opera, she debuted with Toronto Operetta Theatre as Pitti-Sing in The Mikado and has sung Blanche, Sister Genovieffa, and Despina.
TOM LILBURN – Countertenor
Tom Lilburn is a 31-year-old English countertenor who is a young artist with Opera Prelude. An experienced oratorio performer, recent performances include Handel’s Theodora and Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St. Matthew Passion and St. Mark Passion, Vivaldi’s Cessate, omai cessate, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Notable performances include solos from Handel’s Messiah in the Royal Albert Hall with The Really Big Chorus, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms at the Jubilee Concert at St George’s Chapel, and Baroque arias with Florilegium in Milan’s Museo Nazionale.
Tom is also a Lay Clerk at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and in April 2021 he was one of four singers at the funeral of The Duke of Edinburgh. He is a member of the vocal sextet The Queen’s Six. He currently studies with Sally Burgess. In his spare time, he is a keen golfer and cricketer and enjoys playing chess and following Aston Villa.
JAMES BIRCHALL – Bass-baritone
James Birchall studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has sung many of the major oratorio roles, notably Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, both with the CBSO in Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Bach’s St John Passion with the London Mozart Players in St Paul’s Cathedral, Christmas Oratorio and Messiah in Kristiansund, Norway and St Matthew Passion at the Royal Festival Hall with the Bach Choir.
In 2010, he made his solo debut at the BBC Proms, performing Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, and has twice appeared as a soloist at the Three Choirs Festival, performing Serenade to Music and Purcell’s Hail Bright Cecilia. James also often sings with the Royal Opera Chorus with productions this season including Aida, La Bohème, Il Trovatore and Carmen.