'Powerful and uplifting' gala concert for Portsmouth100
HM Band of The Royal Marines, Solent Symphony Orchestra and 200 singers from five choirs perform at The Guildhall
More than 250 musicians will come together in harmony this weekend to sing the praises of Portsmouth’s centenary.
The Portsmouth Sing 100 Gala Civic Concert at The Guildhall on Saturday night (May 9) will include performances of significant pieces celebrating the city. Alongside 75 members of HM Band of The Royal Marines and Solent Symphony Orchestra will be nearly 200 singers - aged seven to 80 - from Portsmouth Cathedral Choir, Portsmouth Choral Union, Portsmouth Baroque Choir, Fareham Philharmonic and Portsmouth Grammar School Choir.
They will be joined by soprano soloist Alexandra Stevenson and Portsmouth-born organist Colin Walsh who will ‘re-awaken the slumbering giant’ of the rarely heard Guildhall Pipe Organ.
Among the concert’s conductors will be Dr David Price, organist and master of the choristers at Portsmouth Cathedral. He said: ‘This is a spectacular gala concert bringing together some of Portsmouth’s finest ensembles for an evening of powerful and uplifting music to celebrate the city’s centenary.
"We have 250 Portsmouth musicians on stage, aged 7-80, the huge pipe organ will be ‘reawakened’ by a Portsmouth-born organist and we’ve ‘discovered’ a female composer born in Portsmouth who has been hardly ever heard of.’
The concert will swirl through a selection of classical numbers as well as music by 20th century, Southsea-born composer Freda Swain and a new commission by Paul Saggers - Portsmouth: Stone, Sand and Song.
Two works from Swain will feature: Breathe on me breath of God and Fanfare for a Queen. In a career spanning eight decades, the prolific composer, pianist and concert organiser wrote nearly 600 works. Swain (1902-1985) was a particular champion of female musicians and wrote music that challenged the patriarchal culture of mid-20th-century classical music.
A free exhibition celebrating her life and the profound impact she had on the musical world.is now on in the Freda Swain Lounge of Portsmouth Guildhall, drawing on research by George Burrows, Professor of Music and Theatre at the University of Portsmouth.
Tickets for Portsmouth Sing 100 Gala Civic Concert, which will start at 7.30pm, are available now by checking out the Portsmouth Guildhall website.