Author: ESO Admin

What better way to commemorate the upcoming Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen, than with a concert of the best of British music played in the heart of Elgar Country…

A Jubilee celebration of the unparalleled legacy of British string music, culminating in Elgar’s masterpiece for strings, the Introduction and Allegro. The programme also includes a thrilling new work from composer David Matthews written in homage of the Introduction and Allegro, and a new arrangement of Elgar’s Nursery Suite, written to celebrate the birth of Princess Margaret and dedicated to her, Her Majesty The Queen and the Queen Mother. The programme also includes Doreen Carwithen’s touching Lento for Strings and the Lyric for Strings in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer, George Walker.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music was conceived in 1938 as a tribute to the conductor, Sir Henry Wood. The piece endures as a shimmering and sensuous celebration of music itself, set to the majestic words of Shakespeare.

ESO’s Leader, Zoë Beyers, presents an intimate concert in the stunning surroundings of Worcester’s Royal Porcelain Works featuring some of Bach’s most famous works for chamber ensemble.

Always the highpoint of the festival, this year’s Royal Platinum Jubilee Gala concert opens with the Festival Te Deum by Ralph Vaughan Willams, a composer whose 150th birthday we celebrate this year. This dazzling work was written in celebration of of coronation of King George in 1937. Worcester-based composer Ian Venables has proved a worthy successor to Sir Edward Elgar, and his Song of the Severn is a poignant celebration of the natural wonders of Elgar Country. The concert sees the launch of the new Elgar Festival Chorus for a performance of Elgar’s powerful Spirit of England, and concludes with his brilliant tone poem, In the South.