A Celebration Of The Composers Purcell And Britten

Music @ Trinity, the concert series presented by Trinity Episcopal Church of Newtown, will present the musical event “A Festival of Purcell and Britten” Sunday, March 14, at 4 pm.  The concert will feature two of the choirs of Trinity Church — the Choir of Men & Women and the Trinity Choristers — singing the works of Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten,  renown as the two greatest English composers in the history of Western music.

The event will feature an extended work by Benjamin Britten  (1913–1976) for two male soloists, Canticle II — Abraham and Isaac.  Two of Trinity’s own professional singers, Gordon Jones, tenor, and Michael Doran, countertenor, will perform this piece of music both rarely heard and rarely performed outside of a cathedral due to its length, difficulty and combination of voices. The Old Testament story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac by his father at God’s wish is dramatically told with duets, recitatives, and solos, all with a modern piano accompaniment.

The Choir of Men & Women will sing three rather different examples of choral music by Henry Purcell (1659–1695).  Rejoice in the Lord Alway, also known as The Bell Anthem, is an energetic verse anthem for choir and soloists. Come ye Sons of Art is an elaborate motet, written as a birthday ode for Queen Mary. The simple “Thou Knowest, Lord The Secrets Of Our Hearts” was composed for her funeral not long thereafter.

Members of the Trinity Choristers, the church’s choir for boys and girls, will sing some of Britten’s brilliant choral works for children, both sacred and secular, including “The Birds” and “Corpus Christi Carol.” On the secular side, Britten’s “Oliver Cromwell” comes from a English nursery rhyme, while “May” is a folk song in the style of the Purcellian era, replete with “fa la las.”

The choirs are directed by Trinity Church Minister of Music Fiona Smith Sutherland. In her second decade as a professional Anglican musician, Ms Smith Sutherland has served as organist and choirmaster at such historic and affluent churches in the metropolitan New York area as St James the Less in Scarsdale and Christ Church in Greenwich, and has studied with many prominent church musicians and conductors of the day, including Gerre Hancock, Dale Warland, and John Rutter.

The beautiful acoustics of Trinity make it an ideal locale for this concert of choral and chamber music. Admission to the concert is free, with a suggested donation basket to support the event available.  A reception will follow the concert to congratulate and meet the choirs and soloists.

Trinity Episcopal Church is at 36 Main Street (at the flagpole), with a second driveway also available near the top of Church Hill Road. For further details call Ms Smith Sutherland at Trinity Episcopal Church, 203-426-9070, extension 11, or email MusicMinister@TrinityNewtownCT.org.