Spring Concert
April 12 2025
St John’s Kirk
7.30pm
Our spring concert was a programme full of music to celebrate the arrival of spring and perhaps even include a joyful glance at the approaching summer sun!
We performed a programme that included pieces by Henry Purcell, one of England’s greatest composers. His ‘Jubilate, O be Joyful’ is the inspiration behind the title and poster image we used. Alongside Bach and Mendelssohn, we also performed music by the many fabulously talented modern composers that are writing the choral standards for tomorrow. These included Gjeilo and Whitacre. The full programme was:
- Ubi Caritas : Gjeilo (1978)
- Linden Lea : Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958)
- Ave Maria : Busto (1949)
- Hear, my prayer, O Lord : Purcell (1659 – 1695)
- Largo, Allegro, Aria & Two Variations – Festing (1705 – 1752)
arr. Thalben-Ball (1896 – 1987) – Organ Solo - Amazing Grace : Ešenvalds (1977)
- I want to be ready : Hogan (1957 – 2003)
- Deep River : Arr. Hogan (1957 – 2003)
- Ride the Chariot : Hogan (1957 – 2003)
- With a Lily in my Hand : Whitacre (1970)(no.2 from Flower Songs)
Interval
- Richte mich, Gott (Psalm 43) : Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
- Lobet den Herrnalle Heiden : BMV 230 JS Bach (1685 – 1750)
- Suite No. 4 in E flat major for solo cello : JS Bach (1685 – 1750)
- Jehova, Quam Multi : Purcell (1659 – 1695)
- Jubilate, O be joyful in the Lord (Jubilate Deo) : Purcell (1659 – 1695)l
You can read the review here.
Christmas Concert
December 7 2024
St Ninian’s Cathedral
7.30pm
In our Christmas concert we sang carols drawn from across the UK and Europe.
Much great choral music has been written in celebration of the Christmas story and our programme drew from renaissance Spain with De Victoria’s Duo Seraphim, Italy with Gabrielli’s gorgeous Beata es Virgo Maria and Germany with Praetorius’s two beautiful compositions; ‘Es ist ein Ros’ and ‘Psallite Unigenito’.
We sang Vaughan William’s entertaining arrangement of the traditional ‘Wassail Song’ when our choral forbears walked through villages knocking on doors to sing in return for food and beer.
A much loved favourite from Ukraine was Leontovich’s ever popular ‘Carol of the Bells’ as we paid musical visits across various other European countries with music through the ages right up to a recent composition ‘Mary, Mother’ by Bob Chilcott.
A concert for all the family, full of great choral music, it was set in the wonderful acoustic of St Ninian’s Cathedral.
You can read a review of the concert here.
Summer Concert
August 24 2024
Our summer concert celebrated the cultural links and musical friendship between Perth and its twinned city, Aschaffenburg in Bavaria. Chansons, Perth’s Chamber Choir, has travelled to Germany to sing and perform with Ars Antiqua on two memorable occasions in 2014 and 2019, so it was with great pleasure that we welcomed them back to Perth to renew our friendship and enjoy a week of activities together, culminating in tonight’s joint performance. Ars Antiqua also brought along their youth choir who showcased their talent under the direction of Ars Antiqua’s music director, Katrin Ferenz.
Two choral collections, Holst’s Six Choral Folksongs and Paul Hindemith’s Six Chansons, gave the choirs an opportunity to perform arrangements of each country’s music.
All three choirs performed individually before joining together in a finale of traditional songs from both Scotland and Germany.
Three traditional songs in the finale were arranged by Stefan Claas who was the director of music for Ars Antiqua from 1999 until his untimely death in 2021. During Stefan’s tenure, in 2012, the choir and its conductor were awarded the Culture Prize of the City of Aschaffenburg due to their extraordinary success and exemplary work with young talent. It was in fond memory of Stefan and appreciation of his contribution to music particularly with young talent that we all combined to perform these songs.
Our thanks to Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) who welcomed Ars Antiqua to Perth with a civic reception. In addition we were very grateful to PKC, The Thomson Charitable Trust, The Forteviot Charitable Trust and the Perth Common Good Fund for their support of the week’s activities and with our concert.
You can read a review of the concert here.
