Join Lloyd's Choir as it continues to celebrate its centenary season. We are delighted to return to St Giles' Cripplegate to perform a concert originally planned for March 2020. In addition to pieces by Vaughan Williams and Elgar we will perform the world premiere of a piece written by the Choir's Musical Director, Jacques Cohen which commemorates an exceptional person, Christine Didelot, a passionate and dedicated member of several choral societies, including Lloyd’s Choir. She also developed and ran the international Sangestevne festival of choral singing.
When Christine discovered she was terminally ill in May 2017 it was her dying wish to commission a substantial piece for chorus and large orchestra. She wanted it to be specially composed by Jacques Cohen and performed by Lloyd’s Choir with the Cohen Ensemble as the main work in the Choir’s annual spring concert. The new oratorio 'Creation' has been commissioned by Christine’s friends, Priti and Peter Colbeck, to honour her last wish as, sadly, she died before she was able to do so herself.
Christine loved the great tradition of religious music but described herself as humanist and spiritual rather than religious, so the choice of subject is very much a reflection of her, as is the choice of soloist which naturally is Christine’s voice part, alto.
The piece has as much to do with the potential destruction caused by man as it has to do with the creation caused by God. The biblical creation text is interspersed with 20th century poems, the children’s chorus singing verses from Louis MacNeice’s Prayer before Birth and the alto singing verses from the beautifully simple poems of Franta Bass, murdered in Terezin by the Nazis at the age of 14 in 1944. The use of the children’s chorus is itself another reflection of Christine’s dedication to collaboration between different kinds of choirs. After an apocalyptic climax setting words from Revelation, Isaiah and Jeremiah, warning of the dangers if we fail in our responsibilities, the piece ends on a note of hope that we must cherish and preserve our beautiful planet for our children to enjoy.
Please view the interview with Jacques Cohen about 'Creation'.