A Century of English Music

Petersfield Musical Festival

Elgar: Serenade for strings
Dyson: Hierusalem
Ireland: Downland Suite
Rutter: Magnificat

This concert will be performed by Milly Forrest, soprano; the Festival chorus with Petersfield and Rogate Choral Societies; and Nova Foresta Classical Players. It will be conducted by Paul Spicer.

Sir George Dyson was a composer, teacher, broadcaster and author, and the driving force behind the National Federation of Music Societies (now Making Music), to which the Festival is affiliated. His story is told in a major biography written by Paul Spicer, the conductor of this concert.

Regular singers with the Festival will remember our performances with Paul Spicer of Dyson’s colourful Agincourt (originally written for the Festival’s 50th anniversary) and The Canterbury Pilgrims (in 2019).

John Rutter has played a leading role in the British choral scene for many decades, and has written some of the country's best-loved modern choral music. His Magnificat, which adds a medieval carol to the uplifting words of the Annunciation, is one of his most engaging works.