Conductor Martyn Brabbins returns to conduct the BBC Singers in the world premiere of Bristol-based composer John Pickard's BBC commission, Elemental.
Elemental is a work of celebration of the BBC Singers, to whom the piece is dedicated. The text, specially written by Gavin D’Costa, is also a celebration: of the world in all its beauty, and of the awesome and mysterious natural forces that shape our lives. The work is structured around the four classical elements: Earth, Fire, Air and Water, framed at the beginning and the end by the image of the Earth from space – a ‘brilliant jewel in the black velvet sky’, as the Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin described it.
The programme also includes the music of Sarah Garrard, a former student of John Pickard at Bristol University, alongside works by Holst, Britten and Elgar. We are delighted to join forces once more with percussionist Andrew Barclay, harpist Elizabeth Bass and pianist Richard Pearce.
There will be one interval.
This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, at 7.30pm on Wednesday 24 September.
