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7.00 pm
Wessex Auditorium
Brentwood School
Middleton Hall Lane
Brentwood
Essex CM15 8EE
Access both for cars and pedestrians will be solely from Middleton Hall Lane. Please note there will be no pedestrian access from Ingrave Road.
Conductor Julia Wilson-James
Bra-vissima Ladies Choir
Ralph Vaughan Williams Folk Songs of the Four Seasons
Gustav Holst St Paul's Suite
Sue Hughes Requiem for Unsung Heroes
Tickets £15, Under 18 £1 (on door, card only). Book in advance now at Brentwood Philharmonic Orchestra (wegottickets.com) or, nearer the concert, (cash only) at Shenfield Wine Company, 86 Hutton Road, Shenfield CM15 8NB. A limited number of earlybird tickets are available for £12 until a week before the concert.
Parking on the concert day is free at Brentwood School.
Programme Notes
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Folk Songs of the Four Seasons (1950)
Commissioned by the Womens’ Institute for a performance in the Royal Albert Hall, the first performance had a choir of 3,000 women together with the London Symphony Orchestra. It works better with smaller forces! It has a prologue and four movements grouped into the seasons, each of which uses a number of folk songs appropriate to the season.
Prologue: To the Ploughboy
Spring: Early in the Spring, The Lark in the Morning, May Song
Summer: Summer is a-coming in and The Cuckoo, The Sprig of Thyme, The Sheep Shearing, The Green Meadow
Autumn: John Barleycorn, An Acre of Land
Winter: Children's Christmas Song, Wassail Song, God Bless the Master
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
St Paul’s Suite (1913-1922)
Holst was the music master at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London for nearly 30 years and this suite for strings was written for and dedicated to the school’s orchestra. It has become a key work in the string orchestra repertoire. It has four contrasting movements based on traditional English and Irish melodies.
Sue Hughes
Requiem for Unsung Heroes for female voices and orchestra (2025) (First performance)
Words from the Latin Requiem Mass, with poems by Moira Cameron, Masha Bennett and Mary Elizabeth Frye. Music (and programme note) by Sue Hughes.
1. Requiem Aeternam
2. Ode to the Unsung Heroes (Moira Cameron)
3. Kyrie Eleison/Christe Eleison
4. Dies Irae
5. Lacrimosa
6. They were Brave (Masha Bennett)
7. Sanctus and Benedictus
8. Pie Jesu
9. Agnus Dei
10. In Paradisum/Do not Stand at my Grave and Weep (Mary Elizabeth Frye)
The idea to write this Requiem came about in the aftermath of the Covid19 pandemic. There are myriad accounts of those who selflessly gave of themselves during this time, some giving the ultimate gift of their lives in the service of others. The Requiem for Unsung Heroes is written in honour of these people. Subsequently I have become aware of others who, quietly and unassumingly, have given of themselves in service without regard for their own welfare and safety. The Requiem is also for them.
7.00 pm
Bishops Hill Adult Community College
Rayleigh Road
Brentwood
Essex CM13 1BD
Conductor Bradley Winand
Violin Elodie Chousmer-Howelles
Charles Ives The Unanswered Question
Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto
Johannes Brahms Symphony No 1
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The Brentwood Philharmonic Orchestra is a leading Essex orchestra bringing together professional musicians and experienced amateurs from Brentwood and further afield to perform three main symphony concerts a year in and around Brentwood, Essex.
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