Thursday 21 June, 7pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Storm and Refuge
2022 Festival Programme
English Rhapsody
Festival Evensong in the City
Thursday 14 June, 7pm
St Bartholomew the Great
Free Admission
The Evensong in the City Choir, under director Sam Bardsley, sing music including Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs as well as some of his best-loved hymn-tunes, with evening canticles by Stanford.
Artists:
Evensong in the City Choir
Sam Bardsley, director
Simon Hogan, organ
Programme:
Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
Stanford: Evening Service in G
Vaughan Williams: Come Down O Love Divine
(Tune: Down Ampney)
Vaughan Williams: He Who Would Valiant Be
(Tune: Monks Gate)
Vaughan Williams: I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say
(Tune: Kingsfold)
In Gloucestershire
Wednesday 15 June, 1pm
St Stephen Walbrook
Tickets £12 (£6 under-25s)
Brother Tree Sound String Quartet return to Summer Music in City Churches with a performance of Howells' Cotswolds inspired Quartet No. 3 "In Gloucestershire". Howells’ pupil Imogen Holst wrote her Phantasy Quartet while still a student at the Royal College of Music and the programme is completed with Brother Tree Sound’s own arrangement of English folk songs.
Artists:
Brother Tree Sound Quartet:
Anna de Bruin, violin
Thea Spiers, violin
Caroline Harrison, viola
Julia Graham, cello
Programme:
Imogen Holst: Phantasy Quartet
Howells: Quartet no. 3 "In Gloucestershire"
Trad. arr. Spiers/De Bruin: Folk song medley
Brilliant Brass
Wednesday 15 June, 7pm
St Stephen Walbrook
Tickets £20 (£10 under-25s)
Principal players from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra present a stirring concert of music for brass quintet and organ with a varied programme spanning over 250 years of English musical history and including music by Purcell, Handel, Elgar and Horowitz.
Programme:
Stanley: Trumpet Voluntary
Purcell: Suite of motets
Farnaby: Fancies, Toyes and Dreams
W. S. Lloyd Webber: Benedictus
Horovitz: Music Hall Suite
Lynn: Doolallynastics
Elgar: Organ Sonata in G Op.28 1. Allegro Maestoso
Elgar: Chanson de Matin
Handel: Organ Concerto in F Major, Op. 4 No. 4
Hazel: Struth!
Artists:
RPO Brass Quintet:
Mike Allen & Adam Wright, trumpet
Flora Bain, horn
Matthew Gee, trombone
Kevin Morgan, tuba
Iestyn Evans, organ
Piano Recital: Bach, Chopin, Shaw
Thursday 16 June, 1pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £10 (£5 under-25s)
Keyboard Charitable Trust artist George Fu performs and stunning lunchtime recital of Bach and Chopin as well as music by American composer Caroline Shaw.
Artists:
George Fu, piano
Programme:
J S Bach: Partita No. 1, BWV 825
Chopin: Four Mazurkas
- Op. 7 No. 1 in B flat major
- Op. 30 No. 4 in C sharp minor
- Op. 56 No. 2 in C major
- Op. 50 No. 3 in C sharp minor
Shaw: Gustave le Gray
Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, op. 52
Stars of the Yehudi Menuhin School Showcase
Friday 17 June, 1pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £10 (£5 under-25s)
Star pupils from the internationally renowned Yehudi Menuhin School perform Frank Bridge's masterful String Quartet No. 1 with Saint-Saens’ Piano Quartet in B flat
Artists:
Musicians from the Yehudi Menuhin School
Programme:
Bridge: String Quartet No. 1
Saint-Saens: Piano Quartet in B flat
Essentially English
Friday 17 June, 7.30pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £25 (£12.50 under-25s)
International recording and concert artists Michael Dore and Jacqueline Barron - both former Swingle Singers - perform a specially curated programme entitled 'Essentially English' featuring music by Leslie Bricusse, John Barry, Tony Hatch, and Lennon & McCartney.
Among the many highlights will be settings of texts by Shakespeare and John Betjeman… words that inspired great composers to set them to music, from John Dankworth to Madeleine Dring to Nigel Hess. Including All the world’s a stage, If music be the food of love, Sigh no more, Oh mistress mine, and Song of a nightclub proprietress.
Artists:
Michael Dore, vocalist
Jacqueline Barron, vocalist
John G Smith, piano/md
Eleanor Grant, bass/vocals
Programme:
Programme to include songs by Leslie Bricusse,
John Barry, Tony Hatch, Lennon & McCartney and more.
RVW150: Symphony No. 5
Saturday 18 June, 7:30pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £18 (£9 under-25
Under the direction of their Artistic Director, Alex Fryer, the Academy of St Mary-le-Bow perform a programme of Elgar, Finzi and Vaughan Williams. Bassoonist Charlotte Cox joins the orchestra to perform Elgar's Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra. The Academy of St Mary-le-Bow is a unique and innovative orchestra made up of outstanding non-professional musicians, many of whom have graduated from the country’s leading conservatories, based in the City of London.
Artists:
The Academy of St Mary-le-Bow
Alex Fryer, conductor
Charlotte Cox, bassoon
Programme:
Finzi: A Severn Rhapsody, Op. 3
Elgar: Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra, Op.62
Berkeley: Serenade for String Orchestra Op. 12
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major
Stars of the Yehudi Menuhin School Showcase
Monday 20 June, 1pm
St Bartholomew the Great
Tickets £10 (£25 under-25s)
Star pupils from the internationally renowned Yehudi Menuhin School perform chamber music by two innovative English composers: the first string quartet of Vaughan Williams in his 150th anniversary year, and Ireland's Piano Trio No. 2.
Artists:
Musicians from the Yehudi Menuhin School
Programme:
Vaughan Williams: String Quartet No. 1
Ireland: Piano Trio No. 2
RVW150: G Minor Mass and Music for the Queen
Tuesday 21 June, 7.30pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £20 (£10 under-25s)
The City of London Choir gives a centenary performance of Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G Minor and other music associated with the HM Queen Elizabeth II including coronation anthems by Parry and Handel, and music by SS Wesley, William Harris and William Walton.
Artists:
City of London Choir
Hilary Davan Wetton, conductor
Richard Gowers, organ
Programme:
Handel: Zadok the Priest
Harris: Bring us O Lord
Vaughan Williams: Festival Te Deum
Vaughan Williams: G Minor Mass
Handel: Let Thy hand be strengthened
Handel: The King shall rejoice
Walton: Orb & Sceptre
SS Wesley: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
Parry: I Was Glad
Stars of the Yehudi Menuhin School Showcase
Wednesday 22 June, 1pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £10 (£5 under-25s)
Star pupils from the internationally renowned Yehudi Menuhin School perform piano trios by Mendelssohn (beloved of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) and Beethoven.
Artists:
Musicians from the Yehudi Menuhin School
Programme:
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 1
Beethoven: Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 3
RVW150: The Lark Ascending and Piano Quintet
Wednesday 22 June, 7pm (no interval)
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £25 (£12.50 under-25s)
Outstanding British pianist Mark Bebbington and principals of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, perform a programme of English chamber music including the original 1914 version of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending alongside his Piano Quintet in C Minor.
Artists:
Mark Bebbington, piano
RPO principals:
Duncan Riddell, violin
Abigail Fenna, viola
Richard Harwood, cello
Ben Cunningham, bass
Katherine Lacy, clarinet
Programme:
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
(original 1914 version)
Ireland: Fantasy Sonata
Finzi: Five Bagatelles
Vaughan Williams: Piano Quintet in C Minor
English Song
Thursday 23 June, 7pm (no interval)
St Bartholomew the Great
Tickets £20 (£10 under-25s)
Award-winning mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons and pianist Lana Bode perform songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney and John Ireland and their contemporary women composers Ethel Smyth, Liza Lehman, Rebecca Clarke, Madeleine Dring and Florence Price.
Artists:
Marta Fontanals-Simmons, mezzo-soprano
Lana Bode, piano
Programme:
Programme to include music by, Vaughan Williams, Smyth, Lehman, Gurney, Ireland, Clarke, Dring and Price.
Festival Finale
Friday 24 June, 7.30pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Tickets £25 (£12.50 under-25s)
Celebrated British clarinettist Emma Johnson performs Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra. Also featuring much-loved music by Elgar and Holst, this concert rounds off the festival with a performance of Vaughan Williams’s evergreen Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
Artists:
English Chamber Orchestra
Emma Johnson, clarinet
Stephanie Gonley, leader/director
Programme:
Elgar: Serenade for Strings
Finzi: Clarinet Concerto, Op. 31
Holst: St Paul's Suite
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Support
We are deeply grateful to the Herbert Howells Trust, Finzi Friends, John Ireland Trust, The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers,
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, and all our supporters for making the 2022 Summer Music in City Festivals possible. We are grateful to the clergy, churchwardens and administrators of St Giles Cripplegate, St Bartholomew the Great and St Stephen Walbrook for all their help and support.