A large group of local singers and instrumentalists will be celebrating the city's heritage with a gala concert at Portsmouth Guildhall. 

• Saturday 9th May
• 7:30pm
• Portsmouth Guildhall

There will be performances of three pieces by Freda Swain, Portsmouth’s greatest 20th-century composer, a new piece will also receive its premiere. Portsmouth: Stone, Sand and Song has been written specially for this anniversary by Paul Saggers of the Royal Marines Band. One of the co-commissioners, David Price (Organist of Portsmouth Cathedral) says, “We are delighted with this imaginative work by Paul which explores the history of key parts of Portsmouth’s story and includes a movement setting the Simon Armitage poem that is carved on the new sea wall in Southsea”.

Many of the other pieces will be familiar to many listeners, including Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens, Walton’s Portsmouth Point, Parry’s Jerusalem and Ave Maria by Cecilia MacDowell – a work composed in 2003 for Portsmouth Grammar School and premiered at Portsmouth Cathedral – we are pleased to welcome back Alexandra Stevenson to sing the solo in the work reprieving her appearance at the premiere when she was 15.

The concert is part of a three-day festival which celebrates classical and light music as part of the Portsmouth100 commemorative year, demonstrating that the city is home to a huge array of professional and amateur groups. Further information about the other events in Portsmouth 100 Sing can be found here.