All you need is (Unending) Love
Ex Cathedra to recreate Beethoven’s Funeral procession, co-create with refugee communities, explore fusion of Indian Classical and choral music, and more
Ex Cathedra has announced a bold, innovative 2021-22 season, encompassing rarely-heard music from Beethoven’s Funeral procession to Unending Love Weekenders – exploring fusions of Indian Classical and choral music by Alec Roth and Roxanna Panufnik, in collaboration with Milapfest, the Britten Sinfonia, Mark Padmore, Vayu Naidu, Debipriya Sircar and Ensemble Tempus Fugit.
Audiences can experience glorious programmes of Early Music, with gems from the English Renaissance, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, two Bach cantatas, Bach St Matthew Passion and a period-instrument performance of Mozart’s Requiem.
A very different, emotional Requiem will take place in February at Coventry Cathedral as part of the City of Culture year. Liz Dilnot Johnson’s heart-rending When a Child is a Witness features co-created contributions from those who have sought and supported refuge in the city, one of two major works in the season by the Malverns-based composer.
Ex Cathedra’s season contains its traditional ingredients too. The choir’s Christmas Music by Candlelight concerts are an annual, popular treat for audiences seeking an atmospheric, contemplative sequence of music and readings, whilst Summer Music by Candlelight celebrates nature, sun, sea and holidays. Both will be presented in venues across the Midlands. The Good Friday Bach St Matthew Passion promises to be particularly poignant after two years without a live audience.
Announcing the season, Jeffrey Skidmore said: ‘It feels like a rebirth, a renewal, a refreshment, a regeneration. It is a very sweet and joyful moment to be able to announce a new season which is stronger and more passionate than ever and which eagerly reaches out to a wide audience. We have learnt so much from our time in isolation, the tragic dark ages of the pandemic, but now we have a wonderful, innovative programme to share with you.
‘Of course Ex Cathedra never went away. From the beginning and throughout the pandemic the whole Ex Cathedra family rallied in a creative explosion which embraced new technology to produce high quality and imaginative virtual videos, live films with and without audience.
‘But now Ex Cathedra is back! I’m tempted to say Ex Cathedra is Bach… Mozart, Beethoven, Monteverdi, Alec Roth, Liz Dilnot Johnson, Roxanna Panufnik, Penelope Thwaites … and much more! We continue to celebrate the great human achievements of the past alongside new and special projects which reach out to the world, in particular the Middle East, India, Australia and the Americas.‘
Full details of Ex Cathedra’s season can be if you click here found at www.excathedra.co.uk.
Tickets go on general sale on 30 July at 10am. With tickets for concerts starting at £13, best-available tickets for full-time students and under 18s available for just £8, and £13 for anyone aged 18-30 not in full-time education, Ex Cathedra’s inspiring and uplifting concerts are accessible to everyone. There are generous multibuy discounts, and an Early Bird savings of 20% on all tickets purchased by 17 September.