Hastings Philharmonic Choir Spring Newsletter 2023

Spring Concert: Mozart and Haydn, 15 April, 7pm, Christ Church, St Leonards

Join us for this concert of Classical greats!

Haydn Te Deum
Mozart Bassoon Concerto
Mozart 'Great' Mass in C minor, K427

Hastings Philharmonic Choir with Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada and Helen May (sopranos), Kieran White (tenor), Jack Lawrence-Jones (bass), Ben Exell (bassoon), Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Marcio da Silva

Mozart's 'Great' Mass, composed in 1782-83 in fulfilment of a vow made at the time of his marriage, is acknowledged as one of his choral masterpieces. When his new wife, Constanze, sang at its first performance in Salzburg, the work was still unfinished, and Mozart never got around to completing it. That job has been left to later editors, and the choir will be singing from the acclaimed 1989 edition by Franz Beyer, who expertly completed the sketchy orchestration of the two surviving Credo movements and reconstructed missing parts of the Sanctus and Benedictus. The work combines some of Mozart's grandest choral writing with some meltingly beautiful solo passages.

Haydn's joyful Te Deum was composed around 1799 to a commission by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who was herself an accomplished singer. Its first performance, a year later, celebrated the visit of Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton to the Eisenstadt home of Haydn's employer, Prince Esterhazy.

Mozart's sprightly Bassoon Concerto, a youthful work, completes the concert.

Tickets:
Adults £20/£17/£12.50
Under 18s, students, job seekers/universal credit recipients £5/free
Available from our website: https://www.hastingsphilchoir.org.uk/springconcert2023
Also from The Bookkeeper, 1a Kings Road, St Leonards, TN37 6EA
or by phone: 01424 437554

Summer concert 2023: Mendelssohn's Elijah, Sunday 30 July

This exciting project forms part of HPO’s Open Doors Festival. In a collaboration with Billingshurst Choral Society, choirs from Freiburg in Germany (including Chor Münchweier, Cantemus! Gundelfingen, and school choirs from Ettenheim) and the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra we shall perform Mendelssohn’s magnificent oratorio Elijah. This local concert is the second stage of an exchange with the German choirs: members of the two English choirs will take part in a similar performance in Freiburg the preceding week.

More details to follow shortly - watch this space!

Support us!

HPC has been mounting top-quality concerts featuring large-scale choral masterpieces since 1928! No choir of our longevity can survive without the constant generosity of its supporters. We are grateful, as ever, to Christ Church and other local churches who provide us with the wonderful settings in which we perform. As well as giving audiences the opportunity to hear high-class musical performances in local venues, our concerts also provide young vocal soloists and orchestral musicians with essential experience as they establish and further their careers. Such concerts are expensive to put on, and we cannot hope to cover the considerable costs involved from our members' subscriptions or from ticket sales alone.

We are extremely grateful to those Friends who have generously supported us with donations in the past. For those who would like to give additional financial support this season, we are continuing our current schemes: you may choose to become a Patron of Hastings Philharmonic Choir with a minimum donation of £25, or to Sponsor a Musician (£150 sponsors an orchestral player, £300 a soloist, or £500 the conductor).

For further information about these schemes, or to make a donation, please either visit our website: https://www.hastingsphilchoir.org.uk/donate
or email Maggi on
patronsadmin@hastingsphilchoir.org.uk
Donations may be made by card payment, directly via our website, or by cheque or bank transfer.

Any donation, large or small, helps us to present the high-quality performances that you expect and love, and that so enrich the musical life of our town.