I Was Glad

Three Spires Singers and Abbey Brass present a concert of joyful summer music for choir with organ and brass. Parry's famous anthem I Was Glad – which has been sung at every coronation since 1902 – opens the concert as truly one of the most majestic and uplifting pieces. Dvorak's Mass in D is a wonderfully contrasting work, with exuberance and poise, full of wonderful romantic harmony. For this we will be joined by young talented soloists from among the cathedral's choral scholars.

Organ and brass will join in Guilmant's joyous Grand Choeur Dialogué, and we will hear one of the most well-known organ pieces, Widor's Toccata, and hear the choir sing Dupré's Laudate. Vierne's epic Messe Solennelle provides some French grandeur, with a particularly apocalyptic 'Kyrie'. Rutter's Psalm 150, written for Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee in 2002 is a bright, fun, dancing work, reminiscent of the composer's famous 'Gloria'.

This is a concert with a vast expanse of sound in the cathedral's huge acoustic, with what David Briggs describes as the greatest cathedral organ in the country.

Conductor: James Anderson-Besant
Soprano: Lucy Mitten
Alto: Jenny Wells
Tenor: William Hammond
Bass: Lewis Cobb