Upcoming Concerts 2022-23 Season
Full details of 2022-2023 concerts are in our Season At A Glance brochure here.
Thursday 01 December at 8pm & Saturday 03 December at 6pm : Sounds of Christmas
Includes Britten – Ceremony of Carols (with harp); Pinkham – Christmas Cantata (brass quartet); Rutti – Three Carols (organ) ; and a selection of traditional carols (with audience participation welcome).
Soprano Soloists: Sumei Bao-Smith and Morgane Collomb.
Our first concert will ring in the holiday season with Benjamin BRITTEN’s Ceremony of Carols, one of the composer’s most popular and frequently performed works. Inspired by medieval poetry and Gregorian chant, A Ceremony of Carols includes both a Christmas narrative as well as references to the re-birth of spring.
Carl RÜTTI’s Three Carols blends the English choral tradition with other genres including jazz and the blues in rich colorful textures. Finally Daniel PINKHAM’s glorious Christmas Cantata will be performed with organ and brass.
Tickets are now available here.
| Tickets for Sounds of Christmas |
Sunday 11 December at 3pm : Handel – Messiah
(Sing-Along with audience participation welcome)
Soloists: Rachel Redmond (Soprano), Grace Durham (Alto), Maciej Kwasnikowski (Tenor) and Alexander York (Bass)
Perhaps you’ve already sung Part 1 of HANDEL’s Messiah, as well as the famous “Hallelujah” chorus, or maybe you’ve only dreamed of doing it. Well,
YOUR chance to sing, or to sing again, this wonderful work can become real each year on one Sunday in December at the American Cathedral.
A “Sing along” means that YOU (supported by the members of the Paris Choral Society seated amongst you), get to sing if you want. Maybe you already can sing the whole of the MESSIAH, or maybe you can sing only bits and pieces of it, or maybe none of it. Who cares? Your pleasure will come from participating
or, if you prefer, simply listening. Lead by Zachary Ullery, the Musical Director of the PCS, and Director of Music of the American Cathedral, along with the Cathedral Organist, Andrew Dewar, you and professional soloists will perform Handel’s masterpiece with verve and joy. Do join us for this always popular afternoon of music-making!
Tickets are now available here.
| Tickets for Messiah Sing-Along |
TICKET SALES FOR THE FOLLOWING EVENTS WILL START IN 2023
Thursday 23 March at 8pm & Saturday 25 March at 6pm : Verdi – Requiem
(with chamber orchestra)
Giuseppe VERDI’s famous Messa da Requiem began as a collaborative effort among twelve Italian composers to create a requiem in honor of the celebrated 19th century composer Gioachino Rossini. Verdi’s contribution was the “Libera me”. Shortly before this Messa per Rossini was to be performed, the project was abandoned.
In May 1873, the Italian writer and humanist Alessandro Manzoni died. Verdi held Manzoni in high esteem and met him in 1868. He resolved to complete a requiem mass entirely of his own creation to honour Manzoni. Verdi traveled to Paris in June, where he commenced work on the Requiem, giving it the form we know today. It included a revised version of the “Libera me” originally composed for Rossini.
Thursday 08 June at 8pm & Saturday 10 June at 6pm : Rossini – Petite Messe Solennelle
(with two pianos & harmonium)
Gioachino ROSSINI’s Petite Messe Solennelle (little solemn mass) was written in 1863, possibly at the request of Count Alexis Pillet-Will for his wife Louise to whom it is dedicated. The composer, who had retired from composing operas more than 30 years before, described it as “the last of my péchés de vieillesse” (sins of old age).
The mass is structured in several extended movements in the tradition of the missa solemnis, but the composer labeled it “petite” with a grain of irony. He wrote on the last page of the manuscript: “Dear Lord, here it is finished, this poor little mass. Have I just written sacred music, or rather, sacrilegious music? I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. Not much technique, a little bit of heart, that’s all. Blessings to you and grant me Paradise.”
