St Albans Bach Choir: There Was a Child & Fauré Requiem

St Albans Bach Choir are back at St Albans Cathedral on Saturday 14 November, with a double bill that puts a contemporary piece alongside one of the most loved requiems in the repertoire. The first half is Jonathan Dove's There Was a Child, written in 2009. It's a tribute to a friend's son who drowned while snorkelling in Thailand in 1999 at the age of 19, and it draws on about ten poets, including Whitman, Wordsworth, Keats, Dickinson, Shakespeare and Traherne. The soprano sings the mother's voice and the tenor the son's, so it's a conversation between them across that divide.

The second half is Gabriel Fauré's Requiem in D minor, Op. 48, which he wrote after his mother died. It's famous for being gentle, a far cry from the apocalyptic visions you get in the requiems of Mozart, Berlioz or Verdi. Between the two, there's a 20-minute interval.

Conducting is William Fox, who took over as Director of Music in 2024 after Andrew Lucas retired. Lucas had been the Choir's Music Director and the Cathedral's Master of the Music from 1998 to 2024. The choir itself dates back to 1924, when it gave its first concert — a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion — and marked its centenary by performing the same work in the same place on 23 March 2024. They usually stage three major concerts and two charity carol concerts a year, and have performed with John Rutter and the Royal Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall.

Joining them on the night are soloists Sophie Bevan (soprano), Toby Spence (tenor) and James Atkinson (bass), the Girl Choristers of St Albans Cathedral Choir and Sinfonia Verdi. The concert starts at 7:30pm and runs until 22:15, with doors opening 30 minutes before. Tickets are £36, £32, £28, £20 and £15, with children under 16 and full-time students with ID paying £15 — though that student rate isn't available for Premium seats. Carers and companions go free.