Birds, Beasts and Bugs: A Musical Menagerie

All creatures great and small have frequently been a source of inspiration for composers of choral and vocal music. In this concert, you can enjoy pieces in the widest variety of styles, from the renaissance to the present day, all with an animal theme.

You’ll hear how different composers view the same creature - Thomas Vautor’s Suffolk Owl contrasting with Elgar’s eerie setting, and the bee as envisaged by John Wilbye, Frank Bridge right up to a recently premiered work by Cecilia McDowall. The Nightingale is heard in the Vienna of Alban Berg but also in Berkeley Square. Orlando Gibbons’ Silver Swan is paired with an Italian swan.

You can expect the widest variety of styles and moods, from the tranquil beauty of John Tavener’s The Lamb and Eric Whitacre’s Seal Lullaby, to the humour of Frederick Bridge’s The Goslings and Philip Colls’ Animal Songs.