Canterbury Cantata and all that Jazz
“All that Jazz”, the next concert featuring Canterbury Cantata Choir and a superb jazz ensemble of talented local musicians, will be a slight departure from our more familiar classical repertoire.
Canterbury Cantata Choir is led by Emily Renshaw-Kidd, the artistic director of Canterbury Cantata Trust which through its ‘Sing to Beat’ and ‘Monday Music’ activities with local branches in Canterbury and Folkestone, is demonstrating the power of singing to improve wellbeing and has now sown the seeds for 35 ‘Sing to Beat’ groups around the country.
The ensemble will get your feet tapping with the jazzy rhythms and harmonies of A Little Jazz Mass and Mass in Blue, together with classic American songs and a choral version of Bernstein’s popular West Side Story.
Bob Chilcott, once a member of the King’s Singers, composed A Little Jazz Mass in 2004, a highly original and effective concert setting of the Latin Missa brevis in which the various movements embrace a variety of jazz styles.
Will Todd, born in 1970, is much in demand with award-winning choirs. His music is valued for its melodic intensity and harmonic skill, often incorporating jazz colours, and his choral music is much in demand from amateur as well as professional performers. He is best-known for his choral works, and his jazz-inspired Mass in Blue has been performed hundreds of times since its premiere in 2003.
Anna Gregg, the soprano soloist for this exciting work is the ‘Northern Ireland Opera Young Opera Voice of 2023’. Anna graduated in 2022 with distinction, from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Helen Crayford, the choir’s talented repetiteur, won a French Government scholarship to study privately with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and was the principal keyboard player with the Britten Sinfonia. Her spectacular virtuoso one-woman show, Rags to Riches, featuring the music of ragtime, has taken her to the Edinburgh Festival, Italy and New York.
Jerome Davies and Simon Whiting join Peter Cook, local saxophonist and educator for Deal Music and Arts, to complete the line-up for this exciting concert featuring such great local talent.
SATURDAY MARCH 1st 7PM at St Peter’s Methodist Church, Canterbury. Tickets also on the door, but book online to secure your place.
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