Category: Uncategorized

Wednesday 19 June at 7.30pm, Bristol Cathedral

David is conducting this year’s High Sheriff’s Concert in 2019 and has been commissioned to write a work which will receive its premiere at the event. The piece, Every breath a song, sets words by the Benedictine Sister, Delores Dufner from Minnesota, USA. David will conduct a chorus of 170 voices made of singers from Bristol Outh Choir, Exultate Singers, and the Bristol-based gospel choir Renewal Choir. Together they will perform a new work by the composer Toby Young and librettist Jennifer Thorp, As One, which celebrates the history and diversity of Bristol.  Exultate Singers will also perform Tallis’ iconic 40-part motet, Spem in alium. More information can be found at www.exultatesingers.org

Friday 15 March at 7.30pm, St Alban’s Church, Westbury Park, Bristol

David conducts City of Bristol Choir and the top notch ensemble Onyx Brass in a thrilling programme of ceremonial and celebratory music including music by Handel, Naji Hakim, John Rutter, brass specialist Philip Wilby, Master of the Queen’s Music Judith Weir and a performance of that most iconic of royal anthems, Hubert Parry’s I was glad. Tickets £18 for adults, £5 for students/under 18s, from Opus 13 music shop 0117 923 0164 and online at www.cityofbristolchoir.org.uk.

Saturday 9 February at 6pm, St George’s Bristol

Warm up a winter’s day with an early evening concert on the theme of love. Exultate Singers is delighted to be joined by the esteemed Alberni String Quartet to perform passionate music for choir and strings by British and American composers influenced by the sensual words, songs and sounds of other cultures. The programme includes three wedding anthems by David, as well as works by Eriks Ešenvalds, Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Toby Young, Bob Chilcott, Gerald Finzi, With an early start at 6pm, there’s even time for dinner à deux afterwards, as the concert will be finished by 8pm.

Tickets and more information from St George’s Bristol, by phone on 0845 40 24 001 or over the counter at St George’s

David’s new collection of anthems for sopranos, altos and unison men has been published by the RSCM. This book provides a comprehensive collection of 30 anthems by 23 composers, for church and school choirs. It includes specially commissioned anthems by established composers including Philip Moore, Richard Shephard and Philip Wilby, as well as works by such newer writers as Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Owain Park, Ghislaine Reece Trapp, Amy Summers and Toby Young. There are also some new arrangements of classics such as Brother James’ Air and John Rutter’s A Gaelic Blessing. Popular RSCM composers Thomas Hewitt Jones, Piers Maxim, Sarah MacDonald, Peter Nardone and Geoff Weaver have also contributed new works.

Many of the pieces have been tried and tested by choirs in worship. They employ a wide range of interesting and inspiring texts that echo the themes of the Sunday readings, as well as familiar words that have been given a new lease of life by inventive and imaginative settings.

No choir will feel short-changed by these three-part settings. Each composer has set about creating something original rather than reducing existing material. Many of the pieces are flexible so they can comfortably be sung by smaller groups. The organ parts are straightforward and can be also be played on the piano.

Available from RSCM Music Direct

Sunday 22 July, BBC Radio 4

David’s setting of Christ has no body now but yours in a Welsh translation by Ceri Wyn Jones was sung by the choir of Bangor Cathedral directed by Paul Booth in a live broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The text is attributed to the Spanish mystic, Saint Teresa of Avila.

The broadcast can be heard for 30 days on BBC iPlayer and the piece begins at 27 minutes 43 seconds.

Wednesday 10 – Sunday 14 October, Venice

David is delighted to be leading his second Run By Singers singing holiday in the exquisitely beautiful city of Venice in the Autumn. Experienced singers are invited to join David and special guest soloist Crispian Steele Perkins, one of the world’s most well-known and respected trumpeters, for the 5-day singing break which includes performing in a concert on the Saturday night in San Trovaso Church near the Accademia museum on Venice’s Dorsoduro. The course will begin with supper at 7.30 pm on Wednesday evening with rehearsals starting in earnest on the Thursday morning. More information can be found at the Run By Singers website 

Friday 20th April at 7.30pm, All Saints’ Church, Clifton, Bristol

A celebratory concert marking the 150th anniversary of All Saints’ Church, Clifton and the 100th birthday of one of America’s greatest conductors and composers, Leonard Bernstein with a performance of his dramatic Chichester Psalms. 

The concert includes Janácek’s restful setting of the Lord’s Prayer and the rarely-heard Hymne: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen for ladies’ voices by the 19th century composer Josef Rheinberger.

The choir gives the first performance of a new work for men’s choir by the young composer Amy Summers, one of this year’s City of Bristol Choir Scholars, and the final two works of the programme set vivid and passionate words by 17th century poets: Finzi’s wonderful melodious festival anthem Lo, the full, final sacrifice, and the dramatic cantata Crucifixus pro nobis by the Yorkshire-born composer Kenneth Leighton.

Tickets £15 for adults, £5 for students/under 18s, available online from City of Bristol Choir and from the choir’s ticket line 0117 950 7055.

Sunday 25 February at 6pm, St James Priory, Bristol

Exultate Singers presents an Evening Serenade of romantic music from around the globe. The choir will be joined by the internationally-renowned guitarist Craig Ogden and the virtuoso cellist Richard May for performances of wonderfully atmospheric pieces that travel from the calm and stillness of Samuel Barber’s Sure on this shining night to the energetic samba rhythms of Brazilian folk songs. The central work of the concert is a suite of seven vivid settings of Lorca poems for choir and guitar by the Spanish composer Castelnuovo-Tedesco, described by Segovia as ‘the first composer I have met who immediately understands how to write for the guitar’. The Spanish fervour of much of the music is contrasted by reflective songs by Britten, Holst and the Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds. Stars sets a poem by Sara Teasdale in which the choir not only sing but play chords on tuned wine glasses, creating a mystical, cosmic experience.

Tickets £18 / £13 / £10, available online from the Exultate Singers shop and from Opus 13 music shop on 0117 923 0164 or over the counter at the shop at 14 St Michael’s Hill.

Saturday 18 November at 7.30pm, All Saints’ Church, Clifton, Bristol

A concert of music inspired by the saints, performed by City of Bristol Choir, conducted by David, with the tenor soloist Ben Thapa and organist Richard Johnson. The programme includes music by Howells, Harris, Britten, Stanford and Finzi, and Kodály’s Missa Brevis, a dramatic and emotional prayer for peace.

Tickets £15 (under 18s and students £5) from www.cityofbristolchoir.org.uk and by phone on 0117 950 7055 or from Opus 13 music shop on 0117 923 0164.

Sunday 12 November at 7.30pm, St George’s Bristol

David conducts Exultate Singers in a concert of ethereal and powerful music featuring two world premieres by leading British composers.

Sicut Cervus is a brand new anthem commissioned by Exultate Singers from the celebrated composer Sir James MacMillan. Wanderlust, a work commissioned from Toby Young, explores feelings of loss and homelessness across different cultures. Through first-hand stories, original poetry, and haunting music the work explores the pain of those away from home, whether fighting on the front line or seeking refuge, as well as the strength and resilience shown by humanity all over the world. British choral gems by Tavener, Harris, Parry, Elgar and Howells complete the programme.

Tickets £12 to £22 from St George’s box office online and by phone on 0845 40 24 001