Hastings Philharmonic Chamber Choir: Baroque offerings for Advent

Hastings Philharmonic Chamber Choir presents two Advent concerts of German Baroque music next month.
The Hastings Philharmonic Chamber Choir with Marcio da Silva and Cedric Meyer on lute. Photo by Peter MouldThe Hastings Philharmonic Chamber Choir with Marcio da Silva and Cedric Meyer on lute. Photo by Peter Mould
The Hastings Philharmonic Chamber Choir with Marcio da Silva and Cedric Meyer on lute. Photo by Peter Mould

The first takes place in St Clements Church, High Street, Old Town, Hastings, on Sunday, December 1 (7pm). Tickets cost £20 (premium), £17.50 (nave) or £5 (sides) from Hastings Tourist Information Centre, Breeds Place, and at the Bookkeeper, Kings Road, St Leonards. Call 01424 451111.

The second concert will be on Sunday, December 8 (2.30pm), at St Andrews Church, Coastguard Lane, Fairlight, Hastings. Tickets cost £10 from Fairlight Post Office and on the door.

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A choir spokesperson said: “Advent is the coming of what? Of Christmas you might say.

“This time of year always has the feel of darkness and the coming of new light as the darkest night of the year approaches.

“As we encounter wind, rain and flood too, we are also faced with a more urgent view of climate change and a general election, which could be the watershed of all elections.

“Whichever way you vote, it seems to mean new beginnings. So it is fitting to listen to the Baroque offerings of Northern Germany, Schütz, Bach, Telemann and Buxtehude, as they approached their Age of Enlightenment.

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“The Old Town concert, conducted by Marcio daSilva with Cedric Meyer on lute and Stephanie Gurga on continuo, will feature Bach’s Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland; Machet die Tore weit by Telemann; Rorate Caeli by Schütz; and Alles was ihr tut, Kommst du Licht der Heiden, In dulci Jubilo, Wie soll ich dich empfangen by Buxtehude.

“Buxtehude was an important model for both Bach and Telemann in the development of church music in the 17th and 18th centuries and Heinrich Schütz was the ‘grandfather’ of all German church music, being credited with bringing the Italian style to Germany and continuing its evolution from the Renaissance into the Early Baroque.

“The second concert at Fairlight finds Marcio daSilva on continuo and features William Byrd’s motet ‘Ne Irascaris Domine’ together with the Schütz and Buxtehude pieces sung the week earlier.”

Visit www.hastingsphilharmonic.com to find out more and see future performance dates.

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