Music@Reading Summer Concert 2012

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

'Handel's Dettingen Te Deum deploys the panoply of means for national celebration as only Handel can' Stuart Dunlop, Director of Music

The University of Reading Chorus, Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra will perform together in this year's Music@Reading Summer Concert on Sunday 24 June 7.30pm in the Great Hall, London Road campus.

Conducted by Stuart Dunlop, Director of Music, the concert will feature Music Scholarship student and this year's Music@Reading Concerto Competition winner Sian Griffiths, and baritone John Herford.

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics celebrations have influenced the choice of programme: Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum H146, and George Frederic Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim and Dettingen Te Deum were composed to mark a celebration. In this year of royal celebration we nod towards past British military victories: Handel's Dettingen Te Deum was composed to mark the British victory over the French at the Battle of Dettingen on 27 June 1743. This was the last occasion on which a ruling British sovereign, King George II, commanded troops in battle.

Stuart Dunlop said: "Charpentier's Te Deum H146 is known for its trumpet prelude, but the choral music which follows is equally worthy of note - by turns grave, rumbustious and graceful it encapsulates the elegance and the energy of the Sun King's France. Our Concerto Competition winner this year is Sian Griffiths. She will sing Handel's aria Let the Bright Seraphim, with its rousing trumpet accompaniment and soaring lines.

"To finish, we will have Handel again, his Dettingen Te Deum deploys the panoply of means for national celebration - trumpets, drums, stirring choruses, inspiring arias - as only Handel can."

Tickets cost £10 for adults, and £6 for concessions (children, students, senior citizens). These can be purchased online here or on the door.

For more information, email music@reading.ac.uk or call +44 (0) 118 378 5256