Coronation Celebration! with the Royal Choral Society at the Royal Albert Hall
17 April 2023, 00:00
Book now for the Royal Choral Society’s ‘Coronation Celebration!’ concert on coronation weekend at the Royal Albert Hall – and join in with Parry’s triumphant anthem, ‘I Was Glad’.
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On Sunday 7 May at 2.30pm, join the Royal Choral Society for a choral music extravaganza as it celebrates the crowning of King Charles III and marks the choir’s own 150th anniversary.
If you sing, then you’ll be able to join in ‘beltissimo’ for Parry’s coronation anthem ‘I Was Glad’, together with the Epiphoni Consort, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the mighty 9,999-pipe organ, all under the baton of the choir’s music director, Richard Cooke, and presented by author and Classic FM broadcaster Zeb Soanes.
Since its inaugural concert in the Hall on 8 May 1872, the Royal Choral Society – named by Queen Victoria herself – has been conducted by some of the world’s greatest composers, including Verdi, Dvořák and Elgar.
This celebratory afternoon concert will showcase the highlights of their choral repertoire, alongside music by Handel, Mozart, Coleridge-Taylor, Rachmaninov and Panufnik, plus a few surprises along the way. Parry’s ‘I Was Glad’ will bring the concert to a glorious finale, with a choir on stage and in the auditorium of more than 1,000 voices.
Royal Choral Society: 'Hallelujah Chorus' from Handel's Messiah
Join the Royal Choral Society to celebrate a new King, revel in the sheer joy of singing and raise the roof of London’s favourite venue, on Sunday 7 May at 2.30pm.
The full programme at the Royal Albert Hall will include choral favourites such as Handel’s Zadok the Priest, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Verdi’s ‘Dies Irae’ from his Requiem, Elgar’s Nimrod, and ‘Praise to the Holiest’ from The Dream of Gerontius, Handel’s, ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus, Holst’s The Hymn of Jesus, an excerpt for Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha, and of course, Parry’s ‘I Was Glad’.