Celebrating composer Cecilia McDowall of Bedford Park
In the week of June 16th, we celebrate the distinguished Bedford Park composer, Cecilia McDowall, who will have four performances of her work; a world premiere, two London premieres and an album launch concert. See The Chiswick Calendar
The London premieres will take place as part of the Bedford Park Festival, the first being the Summer Serenade concert on June 18th at which the excellent local musicians, violinist David Juritz, and pianist Mark Viner, will play Exaudi, a short work written as a gift to celebrate the 70th birthday of academic and violinist friend, Helen Sills.
On Sunday June 22nd, during the Festival Mass celebrating 150 years of Bedford Park, Cecilia's anthem Prayer, a setting of George Herbert’s beautiful poem of the same name, will be sung by the Festival Chorus with the soprano soloist singing over the chorus the haunting words, 'Church bells beyond the stars heard'.
On Tuesday June 17th at 7.30pm, the fine ORA Singers, conductor Suzi Digby, will give the world premiere of Cecilia’s new anthem, O clap your hands re-imagined, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, to commemorate the Renaissance composer, Orlando Gibbons, in the 400th anniversary year of his death.
And on Thursday June 19th at 7.30pm at St James’s, Piccadilly, the renowned consort of singers Tenebrae, conductor Nigel Short, will perform a piece of Cecilia's written in memory of the remarkable nurse Edith Cavell (who was executed in 1915 by the Germans after it was discovered she had helped around 200 soldiers escape occupied Belgium back to England.) The launch concert of Tenebrae’s new album, A Prayer for Deliverance, will include her Edith Cavell piece, ‘Standing as I do before God’ .
The Bedford Park Open Gardens event in the Festival takes place in the afternoon of June 22nd between 2pm and 6pm and will include Cecilia’s garden.
