With their emotional range and rich vocabulary, the poems of Thomas Hardy will strike a chord with the young singers of the Wessex Consort on Saturday 29 April.
The sparkling vocal ensemble of 12 professional singers have a busy day of song lined up with no less than three performances in Dorchester, Dorset’s county town and the Casterbridge of Hardy’s novels, including a matinee concert of musical settings of Hardy poems in St Michael’s Church at Stinsford, where the poet’s heart is buried.
“Hardy’s poems are an absolute joy to set for this young choir because there is such a range for the singers to express,” says Graham Stansfield, composer and the choir’s founder. “From the deeply sad and the troubled, often pessimistic philosophising; to the joyful, the loving, the playfully trivial, and even the hilarious – the variety and real passion is what the singers like.”
The Stinsford programme will feature versions of Hardy poems including ‘Great Things’, ‘Weathers’, ‘The Oxen’, ‘Seen By the Waits’ and ‘The Third Kissing-Gate’ set to original music by Graham. The concert starts at 3pm.
Before that, there’s a treat in store for diners and drinkers at the Trumpet Major pub in Dorchester, just a stone’s throw from Hardy’s home at Max Gate, when the Wessex Consort stages a ‘Flash Mob’ performance at 2pm.
With their distinguished conductor Andrew King (BBC Singers, King’s College Cambridge, The Sixteen) at the helm they’ll perform an impromptu programme of music from their repertoire including ‘Le Train’, ‘Sing Hallelujah’ and ‘Gastronomic’, a celebration of good food and drink, all composed by Graham Stansfield and included on the ensemble’s latest CD ‘A Choir For All Seasons’ on Aeterna Records.
The finale to a busy day of song comes with an evening concert in the excellent acoustics of St Mary’s Church. Entitled ‘Portraits of Dorset’, the songs all relate to places and people that are quintessentially Dorset, from the historic monks who marched down to a waiting boat for France at Lulworth Cove to the life-affirming buzz of the county’s many markets.
Saturday 29 April: Tickets for the concert at St Michael’s, Stinsford are £6 on the door; and £10 for ‘Portraits of Dorset’ at St Mary’s, also on the door.
