Elgar’s Arthur Suite

Ian Venables Requiem
William Grant Still Summerland
Elgar Mina
Michael Berkeley Visions of Piers Ploughman
Elgar Selections from his music for Arthur

English Symphony Orchestra
Kenneth Woods and Stephen Shellard – conductors
Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir (Stephen Shellard – director)
Saint Cecilia Singers (Jonathan Hope – director)

A programme pairing the music of Worcester’s greatest living composer with that of Worcester’s greatest composer. Ian Venables’ beautiful Requiem has already become a modern classic, embraced by audiences and choirs across the UK, in its original form for organ and choir. Hear it here in a powerful new version for choir and orchestra. Elgar’s touching and whimsical Mina is something of a mini-Requiem, written by Elgar in memory of his beloved dog. Visions of Piers Ploughman is Michael Berkeley’s musical response to the epic poem drawn from the very Malvern Hills by William Langland.