Tis Nature's Voice | Exeter Festival Chorus

A rich variety of repertoire on the theme of nature provides the inspiration for our concert ‘Tis Nature’s Voice: from early music to contemporary, from local to international. In partnership with the National Met Office, Devon Wildlife Trust and Cygnet Theatre, our programme is a tribute to the natural world in all its power and beauty, particularly poignant at a time of climate crisis.

The aria ‘Tis nature's voice, from Purcell's ode Hail! Bright Cecilia, gives the title of our concert and extracts from this work weave through our programme; Purcell celebrates the Patron Saint of Music in a wealth of musical and poetic imagery from the world of nature. Interspersed with dramatic readings by students from the Cygnet Theatre, our concert will include works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Nils Lindberg and James Macmillan, Britten’s Five Flower Songs, the iconic The Hills by John Ireland and Kerry Andrew’s haunting O nata lux, and a dramatic depiction of the bitterness and pleasures of our winter season will feature in John Rutter’s cycle of choral settings When icicles hang.