ECO @ Winchester - An Autumn Thanksgiving by Parry, H., Haydn, Bruckner, Williams, Roderick, -tól (2021/2021), Karmester Andrew Lumsden, Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, United Kingdom

The Waynflete Singers return to Winchester Cathedral on October 16th under the baton of Andrew Lumsden, in what will no doubt be an emotionally charged occasion. Parry’s uplifting coronation anthem I Was Glad opens the concert. An appropriate piece to celebrate the re-opening of musical concert life after the pandemic, the Parry will be preceded by a fanfare specially composed by a member of the choir. The concert also includes the long-awaited premiere of their 50th anniversary commission from Roderick Williams, based upon Keats’s poem Ode to Autumn, written after a walk by the poet along the River Itchen in Winchester. Fittingly, the major choral piece in this concert is Bruckner’s Mass in F minor, a work composed in 1867 as a thanksgiving for his return to health after a long-term illness. This sumptuous work is suffused with lyrical grandeur and an intense spirituality. The soloists include mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones, Finalist and Winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021. Two Waynflete Prizewinners from the 2019 Grange Festival International Singing Competition will make their long-awaited debut with the choir, tenor Jaeil Kim and bass-baritone Jerome Knox. Welsh soprano Elin Pritchard completes the line-up, another favourite at the Grange Festival who has starred in the role of Puccini’s Manon this season. Before the Bruckner, the choir is delighted to welcome the internationally renowned cellist Natalie Clein, who will perform Haydn’s uplifting and joyful Cello Concerto no. 1 in C.