Classical music connoisseurs from far and wide will be flocking to Cheltenham Bach Choir’s highly anticipated Spring Festival of the Baroque, bringing world-class music to town from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 March 2018.
Set to delight audiences across three events, the Spring Festival will focus on Baroque music, with an unmissable highlight the performance of Bach’s world-famous choral piece, ‘B minor Mass’ at Cheltenham Town Hall.
For the full festival information visit cheltbachchoir.com directly.
Bach’s B minor Mass
The centrepiece of this year’s festival will be the performance of Bach’s B minor Mass in Cheltenham Town Hall on Saturday 24 March 2018. Widely considered to be the greatest of Bach’s choral works, the B minor Mass is an undoubted pinnacle of the choral repertoire.
For this performance the Cheltenham Bach Choir will be joined once again by Baroque specialists, the Musical and Amicable Society Baroque Orchestra. The soloists will be soprano Lauren Lodge-Campbell, the winner of last year’s Festival Singing Competition; mezzo-soprano Angela Simkin, who recently starred at the Royal Opera House; English National Opera principal tenor David Webb; and bass soloist Christopher Cull. David Crown, the choir’s music director, will conduct.
Tim Lowe plays Bach’s Cello Suites
On Friday 23 March 2018 at Chapel Arts, outstanding young British cellist Tim Lowe will perform a selection of Bach’s Cello Suites, promising an unmissable performance.
An established recitalist and chamber musician who has appeared at numerous festivals across the UK and Europe, Tim has been hailed as ‘one of the more comprehensively talented of the younger generation of British cellists’.
Tim is Guest Principal Cello of the English Chamber Orchestra and has built a reputation as an outstanding teacher. He was by some distance the youngest Professor of Cello in London when he was appointed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2012.
Singing competition
Come and hear some of the country’s best up-and-coming young singers of Baroque music perform in Cheltenham on Sunday 25 March 2018 at the annual Singing Competition for the Cedric Virgin Memorial Prize. The competition, now in its second year, is open to young singers up to the age of twenty-eight; its focus on Baroque music provides a unique showcase for talented new voices. It will be judged this year by three well-known professional singers – Christine Cairns, Russell Smythe, and David Crown.
The competition will start at 2pm on the Sunday afternoon and is being held in the Prince Michael Hall at Dean Close. The winner of last year’s competition, Lauren Lodge-Campbell, will be the soprano soloist in the festival performance of Bach’s B minor Mass on the Saturday evening.
For more information about the Spring Festival of Baroque 2018, visit cheltbachchoir.com directly.
