Epsom Chamber Choir: Music for Passiontide

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC WORTH A JOURNEY

JS Bach walked 250 miles to listen to Buxtehude’s music but luckily, on 25th March, Epsom Chamber Choir’s audience only has to travel to St Martin’s Church, Epsom, to hear them sing his cantata Membra Jesu Nostri, the central work in their Music for Passiontide concert.

The choir will be accompanied by a small chamber ensemble to perform several gems of liturgical music written for Passiontide. They will be joined by invited soloists for Membra Jesu Nostri, which is a devotional cycle of seven cantatas, including one, Ad Cor – The Heart and the emotional core of the piece – which will be accompanied by period instruments. The programme will also include Lotti’s Crucifixus and music by Lassus, Weelkes and contemporary composers Paul Mealor and Sarah MacDonald.

Dieterich Buxtehude was a Danish composer and organist born in 1637. He was a great influence on the young JS Bach who, at the age of twenty, is said to have walked to Buxtehude’s home town – a distance equal to walking from Epsom to Cornwall – to hear Buxtehude play and then spent three months studying his music before walking home again.

Epsom Chamber Choir is one of Surrey’s leading chamber choirs, performing regularly at St Martin’s Church, where the excellent acoustics make the most of the choir’s superb sound. This Music for Passiontide concert will be directed by guest conductor Jack Apperley and will include an interval with refreshments available.

Time and Place: 7.30pm, Saturday 25th March, St Martin’s Church, Church Street, Epsom KT17 4PX

Tickets: £18 on the day or £16 in advance, free admission to under 18s . From www.epsomchamberchoir.org.uk ; tel 020 86725495; text: 07940 486163

or from a choir member.