Hosanna! A Journey through English Sacred music

Bristol’s beautiful cathedral provides us with the perfect setting for this journey through English sacred music. And what a richly varied landscape we travel through!

It’s only when you begin putting together a programme such as this that you remember that almost any one of these composers could have had an entire evening (or three!) devoted to their work alone – as could some of the composers reluctantly left out of our selection. We are heirs to a wonderful tradition! We begin in the 14th century with two of the Worcester Fragments and finish the first half in the 18th century with Handel’s rousing Zadok the Priest, taking in Tallis, Byrd, Purcell and others along the way.

Two other adopted Englishmen, Stanford and Mendelssohn, appear in our 19th century choices – including Hear My Prayer, which features the much-loved soprano solo Oh! For the Wings of a Dove. Vaughan Williams and Tavener complete the journey, bringing us into the 21st century.

This wonderfully varied patchwork of music will be enriched and given coherence by Adrian Partington’s linking commentary and interspersed with brief organ interludes.