A right royal celebration of music composed for the ruling queens of England – Elizabeth I and II, Mary I and II, Anne and Victoria.
Conducted by Philip Norman.
With Christchurch Symphony Brass: Thomas Eves, Barrett Hocking, Eva Bedggood trumpets; Karl Margevka, Pablo Ruiz Henao and Flynn Megaw trombones.
Oriana vocal quartet: Amelia Ryman, Kimberley Wood, Adrian Lowe and Matthew Harris.
Soprano solo Sarah-Jane Rennie, organist James Tibbles, and percussionists Brett Painter and Vicki King.
Includes supper.
Dressing up for the Queens is encouraged but optional.
Venue: St Mary’s pro-Cathedral, 373 Manchester St, Christchurch
Start: 7.45pm
Ticketing website: https://www.trybooking.co.nz/GKZ
Whether by awe, devotion or the prospect of patronage, they have inspired the creation of extraordinarily beautiful music. They are the regnal Queens of England:
Mary I – ‘Bloody Mary’, the last of the Catholics 1553-1558
Philip van Wilder’s ethereal Pater Noster
Elizabeth I – ‘The Virgin Queen’, the last of the Tudors 1558-1603
Three choice madrigals, by Morley, Bennet and Weelkes from The Triumphs or Oriana
Mary II – ‘The Princess of Orange’, the House of Stuart 1689-1694
Purcell’s glorious Sound the Trumpet and deeply moving Funeral Music for Queen Mary II
Anne – ‘Brandy Nan’, the last of the Stuarts 1702-1707
Handel’s exquisite Eternal Source of Light Divine and triumphal United Nations Shall Combine
Victoria – ‘Little Vic’, the last of the Hanovers 1837-1901
‘A Fanfare for Victoria’ – from Arthur Sullivan’s Victoria and Merrie England, and two warm-hearted 80th birthday songs, A.M. Goodhart’s Lady on the silver throne and Walter Parratt’s The Triumph of Victoria
Elizabeth II - ‘Lillibet’, the House of Windsor 1952-
The zest of Malcolm Arnold’s Fanfare for a Royal Occasion, the animation of Benjamin Britten’s Choral Dances from Glorianna and the magisterial Coronation Te Deum by William Walton
Plus Handel’s Zadok the Priest
Matthew Locke’s Music for His Majesty’s Cornetts and Sackbuts
And of course… God Save the Queen (Gordon Jacobs’s coronation arrangement).
