Belshazzar's Feast | Guildford Choral

Guildford Choral’s summer concert showcases the work of three great English composers from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries: Walton, Elgar and Vaughan Williams.

First, Elgar’s Cello Concerto – the hauntingly beautiful and contemplative cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire, performed by award-winning Pavlos Carvalho, followed by the simply masterful Five Mystical Songs, by Vaughan Williams, composed for the Three Choirs Festival in 1911. Finally, bringing the concert to a rousing conclusion, Walton’s biblical story about the lavish feast thrown by the Babylonian King Belshazzar, described by Herbert von Karajan in 1947 as 'the best choral music that's been written in the last 50 years.' First performed in 1931 to great acclaim, Belshazzar’s Feast was, however, not without its share of controversy, with its raucous choruses and overt revelry in the fall of the enemy, resulting in a ban from performance in cathedrals. Scored for a large orchestra, extensive percussion and huge chorus, this will be performed with the world-renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Jonathan Willcocks, distinguished Musical Director of both Guildford Choral and Chichester Singers.