Ian Venables’s Requiem and Elgar’s King Arthur

A programme pairing the music of two of Worcester’s greatest composers, present and past. Ian Venables’s beautiful Requiem has already become a modern classic, embraced by audiences and choirs across the UK, in its original form for organ and choir. Hear it here in a powerful new version for choir and orchestra. Elgar’s touching and whimsical Mina is something of a mini-Requiem, written by Elgar in memory of his beloved dog. Visions of Piers Plowman is Michael Berkeley’s musical response to the epic poem drawn from the very Malvern Hills by William Langland.

In the pre-concert talk, Ian Venables discusses his Requiem and poet Peter Sutton talks about the story of Piers Plowman and reads excerpts from his acclaimed translation of the work ahead of the English Symphony Orchestra's performance of Michael Berkeley’s Visions of Piers Plowman.