Jubilee Proms - Staggering Success

13 June 2022

Last night the choir was joined by Katherine Crompton, soprano, the Wellingborough Singers, and Orchestra da Camera in a Last Night of the Proms style celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen. And it was a staggering success. With nearly TWO HUNDRED performers on stage and nearly NINE HUNDRED in the audience (the only empty seats in the house were right at the back of the Upper Circle) this was a truly remarkable concert.

Getting in the mood in rehearsal

The Rehearsal from the Fanfare Trumpeterspan>

We began - in our normal concert dress - with a rare outing of Sir David Willcocks’s arrangement of The National Anthem, written for the wedding of Prince Charles and Northamptonshire’s own Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981, in which choir, audience, and orchestra with deep organ pedals and antiphonal trumpet fanfares. We included a very special second verse on behalf of the Ukrainian people, and all whose nations are under persecution of war:

O Lord our God, arise, scatter her enemies, make wars to cease! Keep us from plague and dearth, turn thou our woes to mirth, and over all the earth let there be peace

Working on diction in rehearsal

Jubilee proms Poster

The first half continued with three remarkable choral works - Handel’s coronation anthem Zadok the Priest (a rare outing of Eduard Silas’s generous orchestration), and two works featuring the magnificent soprano voice of Katherine Crompton: Vaughan Williams's (in his 150th anniversary year) Serenade to Music and a very, very (!) rare performance of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Festival Te Deum. This last work will stay in the memory for many years to come - lots of toe tapping movements, and glorious melodies, not least the astonishing final jaunty march which would not be out of place in one of the composer’s famous Savoy Operas!

Our Soprano Soloist

Encouraging a bit of gentle audience participation

The second half began with another pair of remarkable choral works - Parry’s coronation anthem I was glad complete (of course) with the Vivats, and another work slightly off-piste - John Rutter’s Give the king thy judgements, O God. Rutter’s work is very much influenced by the sound-world of Sir William Walton’s coronation music, and it was written for the eight hundredth anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta. But perhaps most noticeable was the amazing change of costume - the combined choirs kitted out in red, white, and blue - including nearly fifty handmade waistcoats for the tenors and basses.

The view from the Alto Section

Our magnificent Conductor