TALENTED SOLOISTS SET TO JOIN CHESTER CHOIR FOR MOZART'S REQUIEM AT CHESTER CATHEDRAL

One of Chester's top choirs is set to stage its first concert of 2026, which will feature a performance of one of Mozart's most best-known works.

Chester Music Society Choir will be joined by Liverpool Sinfonia, soloists Mezzo Soprano Judith Le Breuilly, Soprano Brittany King, Tenor Greg Tassell, Baritone Thomas Humphreys and Conductor Graham Jordan Ellis in the historic surroundings of Chester Cathedral on Saturday 21^st March at 7.30pm.

The concert will feature Mozart's iconic 'Requiem' and Ralph Vaughan Williams' 'English Folk Song Suite' and 'Five Mystical Songs'. 

Probably the best known of all his works, Mozart began composing his Requiem in Vienna in 1791 but it was unfinished at the time of his death later that year. A completed version was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had commissioned the piece for a requiem service to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of his wife Anna. Joseph Eybler and later Franz Xaver Süssmayr were credited with completing the Requiem but various theories abound as to who wrote which sections. Mozart's Requiem has been used in countless TV series, films and adverts. Most famously, it has been used in the films Amadeus, X-Men 2, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Big Lebowski, as well as TV shows including The Crown and Peaky Blinders. 

'English Folk Song Suite' is one of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' most famous works. It was first published for military band and later adapted for orchestra. It received its premiere at Kneller Hall in 1923. The suite uses the melodies of nine English folk songs, six of which were drawn from the collection made by Vaughan Williams' friend and colleague Cecil Sharp.

Written between 1906 and 1911, the Five Mystical Songs sets four poems by seventeenth-century Welsh poet and Anglican priest George Herbert to music. While Herbert was a priest, Vaughan Williams himself was an atheist but this did not prevent his setting of verse of an overtly religious inspiration. The work received its first performance in September 1911. Most recently, one of the five songs, 'Antiphon', best known as the Hymn 'Let All the World In Every Corner Sing', featured in the soundtrack of the BBC TV adaptation of 'Lord of the Flies'.

The concert will feature 4 talented soloists who will perform alongside Chester Music Society Choir and Liverpool Sinfonia.

Originally from Birmingham, Mezzo soprano Judith Le Breuilly is currently based in Ghent, Belgium as a young artist at the International Opera Academy. A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Judith's recent performances include roles in the Wexford Opera festival, touring the country with English Touring Opera in their Learning and Participation department, in Tarantara productions in ‘A Gala Celebration of Gilbert and Sullivan’, Kitchen boy (cover) in Rusalka for Garsington Opera and Welsh National Opera. 

Canadian Soprano Brittany King is a distinguished soloist in oratorio, opera, and recital across the UK and Canada. She has been actively performing at prominent cathedrals including St Paul’s Cathedral, York Minster, Salisbury, Worcester, Coventry and Gloucester Cathedral. Recent highlights include Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Faure’s Requiem at Worcester Cathedral, Bach’s St John Passion with Clevedon Choral Society and Spires Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with The Mahler Orchestra in Malvern, and a dual performance of Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Nelson Mass at Beverley Minster. 

Tenor Greg Tassell began his choral journey as a chorister at Durham Cathedral. He studied music at Exeter University, becoming a choral scholar at Exeter Cathedral and continuing his studies at The Royal College of Music. His professional career began with English Touring Opera and Greg has gone on to perform throughout Britain including at the London Handel Festival, The Three Choirs Festival, the Orkney Festival and most recently the Jersey Liberation Festival. A founder member of professional chamber choir Sonoro, Greg also received a long service award for being a deputy tenor at Canterbury Cathedral for 20 years.

Baritone Thomas Humphreys began singing at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and was later awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Thomas performs regularly with choirs and orchestras in the UK, notably the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the City of London Choir. In 2023, Thomas made his debut at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, performing concerts of Schubert Lieder with the worldwide renowned pianist Maria Joao Pires. Other recital work has taken him across the UK and to Italy, Russia and Bulgaria. Thomas has also appeared with many of the major opera companies across the UK. 

Speaking about the concert, John Ferrari, the Chair of Chester Music Society Choir said:

"We are very much looking forward to welcoming our 4 talented guest soloists, Liverpool Sinfonia and Conductor Graham Jordan Ellis for this concert featuring Mozart's famous Requiem, one of those pieces that you will know, even if you don't think you do. We're also pleased to be presenting two of Ralph Vaughan Williams' best known works. It promises to be a very special evening indeed."

Full details of the concert can be found at: 

www.chestermusicsociety.org.uk 

...where tickets can be booked online.

Tickets can also be booked in person at the Chester Cathedral Box Office.