16th October 2021

Carmina Burana

Carl Orff

Carmina Burana is one of the most popular choral works ever written –  used in everything from TV adverts to horror films. This is because it’s so instantly memorable, and conjures up so many strong visual images throughout its epic, sprawling, occasionally bonkers journey, from the menace of the opening to the heart stopping beauty of the soprano solo – In Trutina. BFC has a long association with the piece, and recorded the version used so memorably in an Old Spice advert.

13 November 2021

Requiem

Verdi

Brighton Festival Chorus joined Coventry Cathedral Chorus and the Pro Anima Orchestra for this performance of Verdi Requiem. This concert was part of the City of Coventry’s Peace Festival,  an annual celebration of the city’s place as the UK’s only city of Peace and Reconciliation. Coventry is also the UK’s City of Culture 2021.

Coventry Cathedral, Coventry | Paul Leddington Wright

Saturday 19 March 2022

Dreams Under Your Feet

Esenvalds

Latvian composer, Ēriks Ešenvalds’ Dreams Under Your Feet is an evocative setting of five spiritual poems by Christina G. Rosetti, W. B. Yeats and Sara Teasdale. Mesmerising choral harmonies are accompanied by soaring strings and imaginative percussion. This will be the UK premiere of this choral suite. A second work ‘In Paradisum’ and Elgar’s ‘Serenade for Strings’ complete our programme.

All Saints Church, Hove | James Morgan

Saturday 9th July 2022, 7.30pm

BFC SUMMER CONCERT 2022

BFC are delighted to welcome Chamber Domaine to perform Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Barber’s achingly beautiful Adagio for Strings and Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna – a programme of beautiful choral and orchestral music from 20th century American composers, perfect for a summer’s evening.

All Saints Church, Hove | James Morgan

19/11/2022

BFC Autumn Concert : Beyond The Sea

Gabrieli, Mealor

Stunning Venetian polychoral music by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli rubs shoulders with The Farthest Shore, a dramatic oratorio written by contemporary composer Paul Mealor, who rocketed to fame when his music was performed at the Royal Wedding. All of these will make full use of the cavernous space of All Saint’s Church, Hove, with singers and ensembles in various parts of the building, just as they did in St. Mark’s in Renaissance Venice. Brighton Festival Chorus Brighton Festival Youth Choir Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra Brass Ensemble Saturday 19th November, 7.30pm Tickets £25 and £17.50 Students and Under 16s £7.50 ticketsource.co.uk  

All Saints Church, Hove | James Morgan

17/05/2023

Brighton Festival 2023, with Britten Sinfonia

Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams said that folk song ‘opened the door’ to discovering his own compositional style. Its spirit certainly hovers over The Lark Ascending, part apotheosis of the English pastoral tradition, part elegy for the folksong-singing culture that the Great War destroyed. A decade later, Brighton-born Frank Bridge wrote a folk-inflected lament for Shakespeare’s Ophelia, still singing ‘snatches of old tunes’ even as she drowns. By 1936, the idyll was over and VW’s cantata Dona nobis pacem offers a desperate plea for peace in a world hurtling towards war.

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton | Adam Hickox

19/02/2023

St Matthew Passion

Bach

With Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, a stellar cast of solo singers and the brilliant conductor and harpsichordist Robert Howarth, this is an event in the calendar not to be missed. The searing story of Christ’s betrayal, Last Supper, arrest and death is wrapped in some of Bach’s greatest and most moving music: it can be noble, passionate, tragic, intimate and ultimately meditative. It’s tour de force for every performer onstage. James Oxley: Evangelist Matthew Brook: Christus Lisa Howarth: soprano Patrick Terry: countertenor Guy Cutting: tenor Ashley Riches: bass Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra Brighton Festival Chorus

Dome Concert Hall, Brighton | Robert Howarth