OPEN UNIVERSITY CHOIR – RECORD OF TERMLY CONCERTS
Entries dated in blue are not counted in the tally of termly concerts.
Unless otherwise stated, concerts have been performed in St Michael’s Church, Walton Hall and conducted by Bill Strang.
YEAR / DATES / PROGRAMME / COMPOSER / REPERTOIRE / COMMENTS1978 / 20, 21 April / Open Opera (with OU Operatic Society) / Verdi
Prokofiev
Purcell / ‘Anvil Chorus’ from Il Trovatore
Excerpts from War and Peace
Dido and Aeneas, concert performance with orchestra / Lecture Theatre
23 Nov / Purcell
Vaughan Williams / Funeral Music for Queen Mary
The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune / Reopening of St Michael’s Church, Walton
1 / 1979 / 5, 6 April / England and Italy / Palestrina
Britten
/ Missa Brevis
Choral Dances from Gloriana
plus English and Italian madrigals / Cond. Bill Strang and Alan Reddish
2 / ? June? / (Folk-song based programme) / John Taverner
Bartók
Grainger / Movements from Western Wind Mass
Four Slovak Folksongs
Folksong arrangements / Cond. BS+AR
3 / ? Nov / JS Bach
Victoria
Bruckner
Buxtehude
A Gabrieli / Cantata 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
motet O magnum mysterium
Offertorium Afferentur regi
In dulci jubilo
Magnificat à 12 arr. Bill Strang (version 1) / Cond. BS (+AR?)
4 / 1980 / ? March / French Music / Josquin de Prés
Costeley
Lassus
Passereau
Berlioz
Messiaen
Debussy / Motet Ave Christe immolate
Allons, gay
Je l’ayme bien
Il est belle et bon
Veni, Creator; Les Ballet des ombres
Motet O sacrum convivium
Trois chansons de Charles d’Orleans / Cond. BS+AR
5 / 12, 13 June / English Anthem / Byrd
Gibbons
Purcell
GF Handel
SS Wesley
CV Stanford
Vaughan Williams
Walton
Britten
Rutter / Ave verum corpus
This is the record of John
Rejoice in the Lord always
Chandos Anthem 11a, Let God arise
Blessed be the God and Father
Purest and Highest
O, clap your hands
A Litany
A Hymn to the Virgin
Christ the Lord is risen again / Cond. BS+AR
6 / 6, 7 Nov / Aspects of Brahms / Motet Es ist das Heil uns Kommen her, Op.29/1
Regina coeli, Op.37 No.3
Geleit, Op.41 No.3
Vineta, Op.42 No.2
Tafellied, Op.93b
Fahr wohl, Op.93 No.4 / Cond. BS+AR
7 / 1981 / 2, 3 April / Schubert / An die Sonne
Angels’ Chorus from Faust
Lebenslust
Mass in G major / Cond. BS+AR
6 June / Schubert / Mass in G major / Salford Church
8 / 2, 3 July / Summer Concert / Bowie
Britten / Harmonious Young Men
Five Flower Songs
Part songs by Sullivan, Parry, Elgar and Stanford / Cond. BS+AR
9 / 5, 6 Nov / B / Byrd
Brahms / Motets Laetentur coeli; O magnum mysterium
Drei Gesänge, Op.42 / Cond. BS+AR
12, 13 Dec / Sherwood Sinfonia Christmas Concert / Carols / Radcliffe School
16 Dec / Wavendon Allmusic Plan
Christmas Concert / incl. Britten / A Ceremony of Carols acc. harp / Wavendon Church
10 / 1982 / 18, 19 March / Allegri
Mozart / Miserere
Missa Brevis in D major, K194 / Cond. BS+AR
11 / 10, 11 June / An Entertainment of English Music /
Elgar
Britten / Renaissance madrigals
Fly, singing bird; My love dwelt in a Northern Land
Hymn to St Cecilia / Cond. BS+AR
12 / 4, 5 Nov / Lassus
Seiber / Madrigals and motets
Missa Brevis; Three Hungarian Folk-Songs
13 / 1983 / 10, 11 March / Inauguration of the Organ
built by Robert Shaftoe / Dennis Pim
FJ Haydn / Christ the Fair Glory
‘Little Organ Mass’
5, 6 May / Mozart + Gershwin and other operatic excerpts (self-selected members in collaboration with OU Operatic Society) / Mozart
Gluck
Monteverdi
Gershwin / Two choruses from Idomeneo
Extract from Iphigenia in Aulis
Extract from Orfeo, Act 2
Selected numbers from Porgy and Bess / Lecture Theatre
14 / 23, 24 June / A Summer Bouquet / Gibbons
Copland
Purcell / This is the record of John
Long time ago; I bought me a cat
Evening Service in G minor / Cond. BS+AR
15 / 10, 11 Nov / R Vaughan Williams
Brahms / Linden Lea, The Lovers Ghost
Two German Folk-Songs; 3 songs from Sieben Lieder, Op.62
16 / 1984 / 5, 6 April / Duruflé
Fauré / Motets: Ubi caritas; Tu es Petrus; Tantum ergo
Requiem (ed. John Rutter, first public performance)
17 / 5, 6 June / Edward Elgar (1857-1934) / As torrents in summer
From the Bavarian Highlands / Cond. Donald Burrows
18 / Autumn / Saint Cecilia Day Concert? / Philips?
Purcell?
Britten? / Cantantibus organis?
Welcome to all the pleasures?
Hymn to Saint Cecilia? / Cond. DB
19 / 1985 / 21, 22 March / Sacred Music by George Frideric Handel
(1685-1757) / Let God arise; Te Deum in A major / Cond. DB
20 / 20, 21 June / Brahms / Liebeslieder Waltzes / Cond. DB
21 / 21, 22 Nov / Mozart / Vesperae solennes de Confessore / Cond. DB
22 / 1986 / 20, 21 March / Vivaldi
Verdi / Gloria
Pater noster
23 / 12, 13 June / Music from Scotland / Anon, C12
Anon, C16
Anon, c.1520
Anon, c.1540
Anon, C16
William Bowie
Maxwell Davies / Hymn to Saint Magnus
Agnus Dei from Mass Felix Namque
motet Descendi in hortum meum
Richt soir opprest
O mortal man
Harmonious Young Men
Lullaby for Lucy
24 / 4, 5 Dec / Britten
JS Bach / Five Flower Songs
motet Jesu, meine Freude
25 / 1987 / 12, 13 March / Monteverdi
Mozart / Beatus Vir
Missa Brevis in F, K192
26 / 21, 22 May / Rossini / Petite Messe Solennelle, extracts
27 / 3, 4 Dec / Gloriana /
Britten
R Vaughan Williams / Tudor motets and madrigals
Choral Dances from Gloriana
Three Shakespeare Songs
28 / 1988 / 17, 18 March / Passion Music from
Handel’s Messiah / Messiah, Part II etc
29 / 1 July / French Music / Debussy
Messiaen
Berlioz / Trois chansons de Charles d’Orleans
O sacrum convivium
L’Enfance du Christ, a sequence extracted from Part 3 The Arrival at Saïs
30 / 30 Nov, 1 Dec / A Gabrieli
Stravinsky / Magnificat à 12 arr. Bill Strang (version 2)
Symphony of Psalms, accompaniment arr. piano duet and percussion by Alan Reddish
31 / 1989 / 8, 10 March / Palestrina
Verdi / Missa Aeterna Christi Munera
Stabat Mater
32 / 29, 30 June / Elgar
William Bowie
Lambert / My Love dwelt in a Northern land;
The Shower; The Fountain
Cowboy Song
The Rio Grande (with pianos and perc)
33 / ?, ? Nov / Brahms / A German Requiem, extracts / Cond. Alan Reddish
34 / 1990 / 5, 6 April / JS Bach
Schubert / Motet Komm, Jesu, komm
Mass in G major
35 / 5, 6 July / English Music / Tippett
Elgar
Purcell / Negro Sprituals from A Child of Our Time
Two Choral Songs, Op.73
The Masque in Dioclesian
36 / 29, 30 Nov / Haydn / ‘Nelson’ Mass
37 / 1991 / 21, 22 March / JS Bach / St John Passion, a sequence of extracts
38 / 4, 5 July / A Dainty Dish / Rutter
Maxwell Davies
Britten / Five Childhood Lyrics
Lullabye for Lucy
Rejoice in the Lamb (arr. organ and piano by Bill Strang)
39 / 5 Dec / On the bicentenary
of the composer’s death / Mozart / Requiem / Lecture Theatre
40 / 1992 / 18, 20 March / Schütz
JS Bach / Psalm 100: Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt; Seven Last Words from the Cross
motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden
41 / 2, 3 July / Funeral March on
the Death of a Parrot / Fauré
Ravel
Alkan / Cantique de Jean Racine
Trois Chansons
Funeral March on the Death of a Parrot
42 / 3, 4 Dec / Britten / Saint Nicolas / With students of Bury Lawn School
43 / 1993 / 24, 25 March / Mozart / Ave verum corpus, K618
Vesperae solennes de Confessore, K339
44 / 1, 2 July / Crossover / Stravinsky
Tavener
Hindemith
Seiber
Britten
Kodály
Górecki / Otche nash’; Ave Maria
The Lord’s Prayer
La Biche; Un Cygne
Three Hungarian Folk-songs
Hymn to the Virgin
Jesus and the Traders
Totus Tuus
45 / 10 Dec / JS Bach / Missa in B minor / LT
1994 / 4 Feb / The Unveiling of
The Fabric of Milton Keynes / Jonathan Willcocks / Simpson; Seven Willows; OU! (first performance) / Church of Christ the Cornerstone
46 / 28 April / Open University
25th Anniversary Concert / Handel
John Byron / Chandos Anthem No.9, O praise the Lord
Ritual Spells, words by Richard Gaskell, commissioned by the Choir (first performance) / LT
47 / 7, 8 July / Part-Songs and Folk-Song
Arrangements in the
English Tradition / J Willcocks / Fabric Poems
and works by William Hayes, Benjamin Cooke, William Beale, Julius Benedict, Sterndale Bennett, Stanford, Holst and Grainger
14 Oct / OU 25th Anniversary
Thanksgiving Service / Britten
Rutter
Hassler / Jubilate Deo
God be in my head
Cantate Domino / Church of Christ the Cornerstone
48 / 9 Dec / Beethoven / Mass in C, Op.86 / LT
49 / 1995 / 6, 7 April / Palestrina
JS Bach
Britten / Stabat mater
motet Komm, Jesu, komm
Hymn to Saint Cecilia / Church of Christ the Cornerstone, OU LT
23 May / Concert at The Stables,
Wavendon as part of the
Keyne on Music series / JS Bach
J Willcocks
Britten
Bill Strang / motet Komm, Jesu, komm
Fabric Poems
Hymn to Saint Cecilia
Our father in heaven (first performance)
and short pieces by Stravinsky, Tavener, Fauré, Rutter, Hassler and William Bowie / The Stables
50 / 6, 7 July / British Music /
Alan Reddish
B Strang / Renaissance madrigals and ayres, 18th and 19th-century partsongs and 20th-century pieces including
Rondo à la Grecque (first perf?)
Our father in heaven
51 / 16 Nov / Purcell
Stravinsky
A Gabrieli / Funeral Music for Queen Mary
Mass
Magnificat à 12 arr. B Strang (version 3) / LT
52 / 1996 / 22 March / Cherubini / Requiem in C minor / LT
53 / 27, 28 June /
Ian Hayter
Brahms / South African freedom songs
Dowland Ayres
The Christ Child
Lieder und Romanzen, Op.93a
54 / 27, 29 Nov / First of two programmes
celebrating the bicentenary
of Schubert’s birth / Der 23. Psalm, D706
Ständchen, D920
Miriam’s Song of Victory, D942, first performance of a new translation by Eleanor Milburn, Bill Strang and Ekkehard Thumm
55 / 1997 / 1 May / Second Schubert programme / Mass in E flat, D950 / LT
18 Oct / BT Voices for Hospices / Handel / Messiah, with Milton Keynes City Orchestra / St Peter & St Paul Church, Buckingham
56 / 19 Nov
20 Nov / Handel / Messiah, Part 1
Messiah, Parts 2 & 3 / LT
57 / 1998 / 12 March / JF Haydn / ‘Harmoniemesse’ / LT
58 / 2, 3 July / Birthday Cards (new pieces
solicited from friends of the
Choir for its 25th birthday) / Dennis Pim
Stephen Potter
John Byron
Donald Burrows
Bill Strang
Britten / *The Power of Music, words by Sian Clifford
*Messiah: the sequel, words by Judi Moore
*Nachtwache I
*Cecilia’s Choir
*Four Latin Inscriptions (*first performances)
Five Flower Songs
59 / 11 Dec / Bruckner
John Byron / Motets Locus iste; Afferentur regi: Virga Jesse floruit
Ritual Spells (augmented orchestration) / LT
60 / 1999 / 25, 26 March / Byrd
Gibbons
R Vaughan Williams / Laetentur coeli
Behold, thou hast made my days
Mass in G minor
61 / 1, 2 July / Toch
Alan Reddish
Randall Thompson / Geograpical Fugue
SATB: a Lawrentian menagerie (first performance)
Frostiana
62 / 25 Nov / JS Bach / Christmas Oratorio, Parts I-III / LT
2000 / 26 March / Opening celebrations
in MK Theatre / John Byron / ‘Autumn’ from Ritual Spells / MK Theatre
63 / 13 April / Music for Choir, Brass Ensemble,
Percussion and Organ / Bill Strang
Bruckner
Rutter / Choral Prelude on ‘Hymn to Saint Magnus’ (first performance)
Offertorium: Afferentur regi; Antiphon: Tota pulchra; Ecce sacerdos
Gloria / LT
64 / 30 June, 1 July / A Short Term Solution / Finzi
Jenni Smith
Saint-Saëns
Bartók / Seven Songs of Frank Bridges, Nos 1, 3
The Arrow and the Song (first performance)
Deux Chœurs, Op.68
Four Slovak Folksongs
65 / 30 Nov / FJ Haydn
Jonathan Willcocks / Te Deum in C (1800)
In the beginning – commissioned for the Choir with financial assistance from the Open University Millennium Fund (first performance) / LT
66 / 2001 / 5 April / Verdi
Vivaldi / Pater noster
Gloria
67 / 27, 29 June / Birds and Beasts / Part-songs, madrigals and rounds, both light-hearted and more serious, relating to the animal kingdom
68 / 29 Nov / Music for the Chapel Royal / Handel / Te Deum in A major
Let God arise
‘Caroline’ Te Deum
The Anthem on the Peace / Cond. Donald Burrows
Old Lecture Theatre
69 / 2002 / 21 March / Schubert / Mass in A flat, D678 / OLT
70 / 26, 28 June / Eating and Drinking / Lunchtime menu including Tequila Samba, The Goslings, The Banquet Fugue, Tea for Two, Drunken Sailor, Madrigals of the day and
Songs of Love and Friendship freshly prepared by Bill Strang (first performance)
71 / 28 Nov / WA Mozart / Mass in C minor, K427 / OLT
72 / 2003 / 10, 11 April / Tchaikovsky
Britten
William Bowie / Music for the Russian Orthodox Church
Jubilate Deo; Antiphon, Op.56b
Three Masts; Welcome, Happy Morning!
(accompaniments arr. organ and piano by Bill Strang)
73 / 25, 27 June / From the ridiculous
to the sublime /
Elgar
Jon Dixon
Stephen Potter
arr. Bill Strang / Music on a range of silly and serious texts, incl.
Death on the Hills
Calico Pie (nonsense poems by Edward Lear)
Silly Songs for Kids (words by Spike Milligan) ‘Amazing Grace’ (first performance)
14 Oct / Celebration of the life
and achievements of Lord Perry / Thompson
Stuart Pemberton
Anon. arr Bill Strang / The Road Not Taken
The V-C’s Song
Auld Lang Syne / Berrill Theatre
74 / 10 Dec / Handel
FJ Haydn / Zadok the Priest
‘Nelson’ Mass / OLT
75 / 2004 / 25 March / Hassler
Bruckner / Motets Cantate Domino; Laetentur caeli
Mass No.2 in E minor / OLT
76 / 17, 18 June / A Time for Songs and Dances / EJ Moeran / Songs of Springtime