Bob Chilcott’s new setting of the St John Passion receives première at Wells Cathedral

On Sunday 24th March, the Choir of Wells Cathedral will perform the world première of a new setting of the St John Passion by internationally acclaimed composer, Bob Chilcott, in a devotional service at 3pm.
 
March 12, 2013 - PRLog -- The hour-long work has been specially written for Matthew Owens, Organist and Master of Choristers, and the choir, who have a close relationship with the composer.

In April 2012, they released the first recording of Chilcott’s Requiem on the Hyperion label, which The Observer described as having “a distinctive, serene, meditative quality, beautifully rendered (by the choir)”.

Bob Chilcott says “I was fortunate as a singer to sing the Evangelist role in both the great Passions of Bach a number of times. I also remember as a boy chorister in King’s College, Cambridge singing the simpler Renaissance versions of the Passion chanted by the Dean and Chaplain of the Chapel in Holy Week. It is the austerity, the agony and ultimately the grace of this story that has inspired me to write this piece, to be performed for the first time in a magnificent building where this same story has been commemorated for almost a thousand years.”

Notes for editors

Bob Chilcott Biography


Described by the Observer as “a contemporary hero of British Choral Music”, Bob Chilcott works tirelessly as a composer and choral conductor.  He has over 125 pieces published by Oxford University Press, three acclaimed recordings on Signum, Making Waves (The Sirens), Man I Sing (BBC Singers), and The Seeds of Stars (NFL Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir), and he wrote the title tracks for the King’s Singers albums, Swimming over London and High Flight.  His Irish Blessing featured on the multi-platinum debut album of The Priests in 2008.  In March 2012 his Requiem was released on Hyperion, performed by Wells Cathedral Choir and the Nash Ensemble, conducted by Matthew Owens, and in 2013 Naxos will release discs of his music by The Wellensian Consort in May and Commotio in November.

In 2002 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC’s acclaimed professional choir, the BBC Singers, and he has conducted other distinguished choirs including RIAS Kammerchor, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jauna Musika, The World Youth Choir, Tower New Zealand Youth Choir, Taipei Chamber Singers, Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir, and the Kyoto Echo Choir.  Since 1997 he has conducted in 23 countries, and in 2013 he conducts in Norway, Russia, the Czech Republic, the USA, and Canada.

Chilcott maintains a busy schedule of commissions, in 2012 completing five new carols, the result of commissions from choirs in the USA and UK.  5 August 2012 saw the first performance of The Angry Planet in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, commissioned by The Bach Choir, and performed by them with the BBC Singers, National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and a children’s choir taken from education projects in two London boroughs.  This year will see the world première of an hour-long setting of the St John Passion for Wells Cathedral for SATB choir, soloists, and instruments, and Five Days that Changed the World, a 20-minute work setting words by Charles Bennett for youth choirs, brass, and organ, which will be premièred in Worcester Cathedral as part of Europa Cantat and Sing UK’s Worcester International Festival for Young Singers on 26th July 2013.

For press enquiries about Bob Chilcott please contact:

Jo Forrest
Tel: +44 (0) 7889 532688
http://www.bobchilcott.com

For enquiries about Bob Chilcott’s music and the publication of the score, visit the OUP website or contact:

Griselda Sherlaw-Johnson
Oxford University Press Music Department
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford OX2 6DP
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 355067
Email: music.enquiry.uk@oup.com

For enquiries about Wells Cathedral please contact:

Matthew Owens
Organist and Master of Choristers

Tel: +44 (0) 1749 674483
Email: musicoffice@wellscathedral.uk.net
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