John Joubert: Three World Premieres at Three Choirs Festival

John Joubert: Three World Premieres at Three Choirs Festival
© Graham Boulton
The music of John Joubert will provide the centrepiece of this year’s Three Choirs Festival in and around Gloucester Cathedral. Joubert, who will attend as Composer in Residence, has composed no fewer than three new works for the festival, which takes place between 6 and 15 August.

A celebratory setting of Psalm 100 (Jubilate) for double choir, brass, harp, timpani and organ, will be premiered by massed choirs at the Opening Service on 7 August. Meanwhile the combined choirs of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester Cathedrals will give the first performance of Joubert’s Preces and Responses on 11 August in a Festival Service that will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

The most highly-anticipated event however will be the world premiere of An English Requiem by the Festival Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra, soprano Carolyn Sampson and baritone Neal Davies conducted by Adrian Partington in Gloucester Cathedral on 9 August. Running to around 45 minutes, the Requiem is among Joubert’s most significant choral works to date, each of its six movements addressing a different aspect of death.

In addition to the three world premieres, organist Ashley Grote will perform Joubert’s 1961 Passacaglia and Fugue at his recital in Gloucester Cathedral on 9 August and the ESO Chamber Orchestra will perform Temps Perdu in Cheltenham Ladies’ College on 14 August.

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