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We’re thrilled to bring you an all-Britten concert this autumn at St Augustine’s Church, Rock Avenue, Gillingham, ME7 5PW.The main work is ’Saint Nicholas’, a dramatic cantata completed by Benjamin Britten in 1948, with a libretto by Eric Crozier.
It tells the legendary life story of Saint Nicholas, the fourth-century Bishop of Myra who inspired the figure of Santa Claus.
We’re delighted to be featuring the acclaimed international tenor Samuel Boden with the Rochester Sinfonietta String Orchestra. Watch out for the mighty Nimrod and the Pickled Boys!
For this piece, the composer stipulated that the conductor must be ‘cool-headed’, so we have the perfect example in our unrufflable Director of Music, Adrian Bawtree. The equally calm and talented Robbie Carroll will be accompanying.
Also in the programme is Britten’s ‘Rejoice in the Lamb’, a festival cantata which takes its rather eccentric text from an 18th-century poem.
The third work is the instrumental ‘Simple Symphony’ written when Britten was 20, but using material he’d written as a child.
While Britten was from the outset rooted in the classical musical tradition – his mother wanted him to be the fourth ‘B’ after Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms – being tutored by English composer Frank Bridge widened his musical landscape. Subsequent influences ranged from Debussy to Berg and Stravinsky. His remains a unique twentieth-century musical voice, strikingly modern and English, but also often surprisingly tuneful, hooky, and witty.
Parking will be over the road at Chatham Girls’ School. The address there is Rainham Road, ME5 7EH.
(Please note the venue has changed since our original publicity for this event.)
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Event venue
Rock Avenue, Gillingham, ME7 5, United Kingdom
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