In recent years Portsmouth Choral Union has gained a reputation for introducing audiences to approachable contemporary works, and their forthcoming Easter concert is no exception.

• Saturday 7th March
• 7:30pm
• St Mary’s Church, Portsea 

Alongside Mozart’s rarely-heard Regina Coeli will be Cecilia McDowell’s Ave Maris Stella and Ian Schofield’s Stabat Mater – all three linked by texts strongly related to The Virgin Mary. In Mozart’s Regina Coeli, the choir will be joined by soprano Eve McGrath who will sing the virtuosic soprano solo – a part not dissimilar to that of his better-known Exultate Jubilate. Cecilia McDowell’s Ave Maris Stella was commissioned by, and composed for Portsmouth Grammar School – and if you enjoy the works of Morton Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre, you will almost certainly enjoy this hauntingly beautiful work. Ian Schofield’s Stabat Mater was first performed by Guildford Choral Society conducted by Jonathan Willcocks. In announcing their performance, the Stabat Mater was described as ‘(having) attractive melodies and accessible choral writing, this work brings a beguiling mixture of beauty and drama to the traditional Latin text.’ The work is scored for Soprano Solo, Choir and String Orchestra, and as with the Mozart, the choir will once again be joined by soprano Eve McGrath.

With the Cecelia McDowell work having been written for a Portsmouth School and Ian Schofield having lived and taught in Portsmouth for many years, we can only hope that maybe Mozart contemplated visiting Portsmouth whilst he was in London.

For this concert we will be accompanied by the strings of Southern Pro Musica, conducted by our conductor David Gostick.