Songs and Sonnets – 27 June 2019

On Thursday, 27 June, Whitehall Choir will present a concert at St Peter’s Eaton Square SW1W 9AL featuring songs and sonnets by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, set to music by George Shearing, William Mathias, Emma Lou Diemer and John Rutter.

The concert begins at 7:30pm, and it will be followed by a drinks reception under the portico of St Peters.

Shearing wrote his well-loved Songs and Sonnets – his second set of Shakespeare songs – in 1999. Whitehall Choir performed the first set, Music to hear, under Paul Spicer in July 2013. John Rutter, a fan of George Shearing, wrote his settings, Birthday Madrigals, in 1995 as a 75th birthday tribute to the composer. Both sets will be accompanied by piano and double bass.

The other two works, by Welsh composer William Mathias and American Emma Lou Diemer, are less overtly jazz in style but still have jazz influences with energetic rhythms and slow, atmospheric movements.

Tickets

Tickets are available from Eventbrite.

Venue

St Peter’s is on Eaton Square in Belgravia, a short walk from Victoria Station. The Church was originally built between 1824 and 1827, and then was rebuilt to the same design after being burnt down. It was again rebuilt after a second fire in 1990, and was then described by the Times in 1991 as “one of the most beautiful churches in London”.