Exeter Chamber Choir and guest cellist Hilary Boxer present devotional choral music with interludes for solo cello.

The concert is framed by JS Bach: the most well-known of his six motets Jesu, meine Freude and two of the closing movements from his St. John Passion. Other passion-themed highlights from the Baroque – Antonio Lotti’s 8-part Crucifixus and Henry Purcell’s motets Hear my Prayer and Remember not, Lord, Our Offences are balanced by expressive classics of the 20th century. Maurice Duruflé composed his Four Motets on Gregorian Themes specifically for Lent; William Walton wrote Drop Drop Slow Tears at the tender age of 15, whilst Set me as a Seal and Olivier Messiaen’s serene O Sacrum Convivium were both written in the late 1930s. Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei is his own choral arrangement of his heartrending Adagio for Strings from the same decade – which has been played at numerous memorials, notably the funerals of Albert Einstein, Princess Grace of Monaco, FD Roosevelt and JF Kennedy.

Ottery St Mary Parish Church, Saturday 16th March, 7.30pm

Tickets £12 in advance from Ticketsource – £15 on the door.

Concert supported by