ST CECILIATIDE CONCERT - STATIONERS' HALL
26 NOVEMBER 2024
St Ceciliatide is always a big occasion for Stationers. There is a beautiful stained-glass window in honour of the patron saint of music in the Hall and every year, the company arranges a weekend of concerts in November to mark her day.
On Saturday evening, the choir of St Bride’s church, the journalists’ church in Fleet Street that has close links to the Stationers, paid a fine centenary tribute to Gabriel Fauré and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, who both died 100 years ago in 1924.
Their performance included, among other works, Stanford’s Magnificat in B flat and Faure’s celebrated Requiem. The choir, one of the most revered and famous in London, was accompanied by Sinfonia Smith Square.
The next afternoon the Britten Sinfonia Wind Quintet played a delightful selection of music written or adapted for wind instruments. This included an adagio and allegro by Mozart and another by Beethoven, Debussy’s suite No 2, five bagatelles from Ligeti and a short, amusing piece called Umoja, by Valerie Coleman, that brought some African rhythms to the Hall.
As always, these concerts were arranged and inspired by Past Master Noel Osborne, himself a former chorister at Chichester cathedral and musician of note.