MUSIC SOCIETY TO STAGE AN EVENING WITH BRAHMS AT CHESTER'S HISTORIC CATHEDRAL

Chester Music Society Choir is set to stage a concert celebrating some of the best-known works by German composer Johannes Brahms.

Entitled "An Evening With Brahms", the concert will take place in the historic surroundings of Chester Cathedral on Saturday 25th March at 7.30pm when Chester Music Society Choir will be joined by Soprano Linda Richardson, Baritone Damian O' Keeffe and Liverpool Sinfonia, with musical direction by conductor Graham Jordan Ellis. The concert will feature Brahms' "German Requiem" together with "Tragic Overture" and "A Song of Destiny".

The concert will begin with Brahms "Tragic Overture", an overture for orchestra written during the summer of 1880. Brahms chose the title "Tragic" to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic programme. Brahms summed up the effective character of the overture when he declared "it cries."

"A German Requiem", by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra, with soprano and baritone soloists. It comprises seven movements, making this work Brahms's longest composition. A German Requiem is sacred but non-liturgical, being based on texts from the Lutheran Bible, unlike the long traditions of the Latin Requiem. As its title states, "A German Requiem" is sung in German.

"The Song of Destiny" (Schicksalslied) is an orchestrally accompanied chorale and is one of several major choral works written by Brahms. Schicksalslied is considered to be one of his best choral works, along with the German Requiem. It is one of the shortest of Brahms's major choral works.

Joining Chester Music Society Choir and Liverpool Sinfonia will be Soprano Linda Richardson and Baritone Damian O'Keefe under the Direction of Graham Jordan Ellis. Linda's extensive career spans over forty operatic roles for major companies in the UK and abroad.  After completing studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and the National Opera Studio, Linda became a Company Principal for the English National Opera.  She has also performed principal roles for UK-based Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Opera Holland Park, Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera, and international companies and houses in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Nantes, Dubai, and Venice. Linda has appeared in concert with various orchestras, including the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Halle, London Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Urtrect Radio Kamerorkest and Festival De La Vezere, France, among others.  Other appearances also include performances in collaboration for the Solti-Te Kanawa Academia with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and for the Jose Carreras Gala Concert at Royal Albert Hall with Jose Carr.  Her performance as Annie in Jonathan Dove’s debut TV opera When She Died (in memory of Princess Diana) on Channel 4 was watched by 900,000 viewers, a record viewership for a contemporary opera broadcast.

Baritone Damian O'Keefe has sung with a range of Early Music ensembles including the Cardinall’s Musick, King’s Consort, Binchois Consort and Henry’s Eight, singing in venues across Europe and America including, Lufthansa Festival, Spitalfields Festival, The Purcell Room, BBC Proms, Cadogan Hall and the Bath Festival, Princeton and Columbia Universities, Rutgers, Amsterdam, Turin and Milan. While working with the Cardinall’s Musick, he recorded the discography of William Byrd (The Byrd Edition), as well as recordings of Cornysh and Dunstable. As a member of The King’s Consort, he has been involved in several recordings including Lo Sposalizio and Let the Bright Seraphim. With Henry’s Eight he recorded Gombert and Lassus and appeared in live Radio 3 broadcasts at Cadogan Hall and the Bath Festival. He has recently appeared with Alamire at the York Early Music Festival performing Tallis Songs of Reformation.

Conductor Graham Jordan Ellis has held the position of Director of Music to the Chester Music Society Choir since 1996. Born on the Wirral, Graham has been associated with the musical life of Merseyside for many years and has achieved a considerable reputation as an experienced conductor of both choral and orchestral music, working with many choral and operatic societies, with amateur, youth and professional orchestras, including Das Schwäbische Symphonie-Orchester of West Germany, Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Northern Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO).

In 1990 he founded the Liverpool Sinfonia, an orchestra of freelance professional players which appears with him regularly. Graham has also worked for BBC radio and television. In 2000 he was commissioned to write the choral work Degrees of Joy for the centenary of the Liverpool Welsh Choral Union and this received its première in the choir’s Centenary Gala Concert with the RLPO under his direction. With this chorus and the RLPO he subsequently conducted an acclaimed performance of Elgar The Kingdom. He was recently elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Musicians and Singers, alongside Dame Mary Archer, Mark Elder, Vasily Petrenko and Rick Wakeman.

Full details of "An Evening with Brahms" and all upcoming concerts and other events staged by Chester Music Society can be found at: 

www.chesermusicsociety.org.uk 

...where tickets can be booked online.

Pictured - Conductor Graham Jordan Ellis.