About

As Brighton Festival Chorus approaches its 50th anniversary season it is fitting that its summer concert will take place at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts. The chorus has been rehearsing at the university since it was formed in 1968 by Laszlo Heltay, then Director of Music at the University of Sussex. Many of its founding members were auditioned in the Attenborough Centre building, and so a return to this venue is a timely way to reflect on the birth of the chorus.

The concert is called Sunrise and promises to be a splendid occasion and features some truly beautiful music for for voices and strings. Chamber Domaine will play Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, one is his earliest and favourite works, and Anthony Barber’s well known Adagio for Strings, featured in many television shows and feature films.

Brighton Festival Youth Choir will perform Richard Rodney Bennett’s Letters to Lindbergh, featuring poems by Martin Hall that quote whimsically from letters supposedly received by Charles Lindbergh during his non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. His correspondents include Scott of the Antarctic, the rusting hulk of the Titanic, and Walt Disney cartoon dog Pluto!

Brighton Festival Chorus will join Chamber Domaine for a performance of Vaughan Williams’ An Oxford Elegy. This piece was written between 1947 and 1949 using portions of two poems by Matthew Arnold: The Scholar Gipsy and Thyrsis. The work has a pastoral character, and is a loving and ruminative evocation of Arnold's time and place.

The concert concludes with Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass, first performed in 2008. Explaining Sunrise Mass, Ola Gjeilo said that he “wanted the musical development of the work to evolve from the most transparent and spacey, to something completely earthy and grounded; from nebulous and pristine to more emotional and dramatic, and eventually warm and solid – as a metaphor for human development from child to adult, or as a spiritual journey.

Brighton Festival Chorus - Summer Concert

SUNRISE

 Elgar- Serenade for Strings

Vaughan Williams - An Oxford Elegy 

Richard Rodney Bennett - Letters to Lindbergh

Barber - Adagio for Strings

Gjeilo - Sunrise Mass 

Brighton Festival Chorus

Brighton Festival Youth Choir

Chamber Domaine

James Morgan: Conductor

General Information

Guests with Mobility Impairments

Guests who use a wheelchair or experience mobility impairments are asked to call the box office on 01273 678822 or email info@attenboroughcentre.com so that we can assist you to find the best seat to suit your requirements.

Concessions

The Concessions rate for this event is available for students and those under 16. Proof of eligibility may be required on the door or at the box office (if collecting).

Personal assistance tickets are available for free for customers who would otherwise be unable to attend the venue. Please contact the box office on 01273 678822 or email info@attenboroughcentre.com for further information.

Box Office Opening Times

The box office (phone line and drop-in service) is open from 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Fridays. The box office is also open one hour before the advertised show start time.