On Saturday, May 28th, The English Arts Chorale travels to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk to take part in the cathedral's millennium celebrations. Performing at the concert, entitled Into The Light, are the renowned tenor James Gilchrist, The English Arts Chorale, Eye Bach Choir and Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra, all led by conductor Leslie Olive. The title of the evening refers to a new commission Into the Light, for tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra, composed by Paul Carr to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of the founding of The Abbey of St Edmund by King Cnut.
The concert opens with Benjamin Britten’s Fanfare for St Edmundsbury written for Bury’s huge and spectacular 1959 Magna Carta Pageant and specified as being for three trumpets “as far apart as possible”! After the fanfare, EAC will join EBC to sing the great coronation anthem by Sir Hubert Parry, I Was Glad when they said unto me. Elgar's Nimrod completes this glorious programme of celebration.