The Two Elizabeths

Music fit for a monarch

Saturday, September 9, 2017 | 8:00 PM | Trinity Parish Church
609 8th Avenue, Seattle

with Pre-Concert Lecture by Artistic Director Gary D. Cannon, 7:30 PM

Choral music has always been a central part of British culture, particularly during the first Elizabethan era (1558-1603). The Emerald Ensemble will perform favorites and lesser-known works, both sacred and secular, from Tallis, Byrd, Farmer, Weelkes, and others. Four centuries later, Britten, Finzi, and Tippett composed jubilant choral works to commemorate the coronation of the current Queen Elizabeth in 1953. British choral music continues to thrive with master composers like the late Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan, and Judith Weir.

See concert program, including program note, texts, and translations.

Repertoire

Michael Tippett (1905-1998) – Dance, clarion air
Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) – O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit
John Bennet (c.1575-after 1614) – Weep, O mine eyes
James MacMillan (b.1959) – Mitte manum tuam
John Farmer (c.1570-c.1605) – Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone
William Mundy (c.1528-c.1591) – O Lord, the maker of all thing
Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) – O Care, thou wilt despatch me
Judith Weir (b.1954) – The Song Sung True
intermission
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016) – Lullabye for Lucy
Edward Johnson (fl.1572-1601) – Come, blessed bird
William Byrd (c.1540-1623) – O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth
Thomas Morley (1557/8-1602) – Arise, awake
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) – Choral Dances, from Gloriana
John Ireland (1879-1962) – The hills
Nicholas Maw (1935-2009) – Andrew Turner, from Five Epigrams
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) – White-flowering days

Performing Artists

Julia Benzinger, mezzo-soprano
Gustave Blazek, bass
Holly Boaz, soprano
Gary D. Cannon, conductor
David Hendrix, tenor
J. Scott Kovacs, bass-baritone
Gabe Lewis-O'Connor, baritone
Maria Männistö, soprano
Fred McIlroy, tenor
Emily Ostrom, mezzo-soprano
Ian Thomas, tenor
Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano
Brenna Wells, soprano