Da Vinci Requiem (McDowall) - World Premiere

Wimbledon Choral Society

This concert features the world premiere of Da Vinci Requiem, which was commissioned by Wimbledon Choral to mark its centenary in 2015. It is Cecilia McDowall’s largest scale choral work to date and will be performed almost 500 years to the day since the death of Leonardo da Vinci on 2nd May, 1519.

“I have brought my chosen Latin texts for this Requiem together with extracts from the Leonardo da Vinci Notebooks, editions of which have been in my family for over 70 years. Leonardo da Vinci’s extraordinary philosophical writings cast reflective and penetrating insights into the nature of mortality and all that it encompasses.”   Cecilia McDowall

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G is in three movements with the highly-charged and frenetic Presto finishing off a work deeply infused with jazz idioms and harmonies.  It is played by the 2014 winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year, Martin James Bartlett.   Opening the evening’s programme is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with Roderick Williams as the soloist.  In a further link to the history of Wimbledon Choral the composer was the Society’s President from 1946-1958.