East Cornwall Bach Choir presents:
A Christmas Celebration
including music by Bob Chilcott, and many others, old and new
East Cornwall Bach Choir
Conductor: Paul Ellis
Pianist: Jonathan Watts
7.30 pm Saturday 13th December 2014
St Petroc’s Church, Bodmin
Tickets available from Bodmin TIC (01208 76616) and Liskeard TIC (01579 349148), online at www.ecbc.co.uk , and at the door. Adults: £14, Full-time students: £7, School-children: free
Welcome once again to the ancient church of St Petroc’s, Bodmin, for ECBC’s Christmas concert, which takes place amid the atmospheric lights and glitter of the spectacular Christmas Tree Festival.
As in our last two Yule-tide concerts, we are featuring a choral work by the popular Plymouth born composer Bob Chilcott. Canticles of Light, com-posed in 2000, brings together settings of three ancient hymns on the mid-winter theme of darkness and the hope of new light and new beginnings. Writing for chorus and piano, Bob Chilcott explores these ideas in a style mixing the simplicity of plain-chant with passages of close harmony recalling his years spent with The King’s Singers.
The main body of our programme offers a rich and varied selection of Christmas choral music from the 16th to the 20th centuries, including pieces by Praetorius, Sweelinck, Handel, Berlioz, Cornelius, Vaughan Williams, Peter Warlock and William Mathias.
And of course, there will be several favourite Christmas hymns for everybody to join in. Programmes will be on sale with notes on the music, plus words, and interval drinks will be available.
Do come and join us, and get your celebrations off to a tuneful – and really Christmassy – start!
Venue: St Petroc’s Church, Bodmin PL31 2AB http://www.st-petroc-bodmin.co.uk/
Paul Ellis – conductor: Paul Ellis studied at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music, discovering his love of choral music while at university: choral conducting has been a major part of his career ever since. He has worked with many choirs in the South West, earning a reputation for high performance standards and innovative programming.
As an organist, Paul has given numerous recitals in the UK and abroad. Venues include Southwell Minster, St George’s, Bristol, Hanover Square and St Stephen’s Walbrook, London, Manchester Town Hall and Notre Dame, Paris.
Paul is Director of Music at Sherborne Abbey, and has directed Sherborne Festival Chorus since its formation in 2006. He has conducted Sherborne Chamber Choir for much of its 30 year existence.
He has been Musical Director of the East Cornwall Bach Choir since 2004.