A Tribute to the Life and Reign of Elizabeth II: A Garland for the Queen features The Sixteen, one of the world’s most renowned choral ensembles, conducted by its founder Harry Christophers for a performance at the Chapel Royal of Saint Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London.
The programme of ‘choral crown jewels’ is built around music, both sacred and secular, from collections assembled for Elizabeth II and for her Tudor predecessor, Elizabeth I: Cantiones Sacrae (1575); The Triumphs of Oriana (1601); A Garland for the Queen (1953), and Choirbook for the Queen (2012). It includes a new jewel – a work specially commissioned by the Genesis Foundation from Cecilia McDowall, one of today’s leading composers of choral music. She draws on the text of an anthem that William Byrd composed for Elizabeth I in the late sixteenth century and which also appears on the programme at Saint Peter ad Vincula. Cecilia McDowall’s ‘O Lord, Make Thy Servant, Elizabeth’ is the 30th new choral work that the Genesis Foundation has commissioned from established composers – such as Sir James MacMillan, Will Todd and Roxanna Panufnik – and emerging composers, including Ruth Byrchmore, Lisa Robertson and Marco Galvani. The Foundation is now established as the largest commissioner of choral music in the UK.
The programme of ‘choral crown jewels’ is built around music, both sacred and secular, from collections assembled for Elizabeth II, and for her Tudor predecessor, Elizabeth I.
