The Penyard Singers are combining with Ledbury Community Choir
in the Shire Hall, Hereford
for a performance of

John Frith’s ‘The Wanderer’
and
George Dyson’s ‘The Canterbury Pilgrims’

John Frith
‘The Wanderer’, a 40-minute work for chorus and orchestra, was composed by John Frith, who lives in Ledbury, as a commission for the Ledbury Poetry Festival in 2008 when its first and only complete performance to date was given by Ledbury Community Choir. It is a setting of eight poems by John Masefield, who was also a Ledbury resident. The poems are entitled: Cargoes, Tewkesbury Road, Beauty, On Eastnor Knoll, The Seekers, Trade Winds, Sea fever and The Wanderer’s Song.

George Dyson
George Dyson’s ‘The Canterbury Pilgrims’, settings for soloists, chorus and orchestra of portraits chosen from the Prologue to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, was very popular with choral societies for a decade or so after its composition in 1930 but has since fallen out of the repertoire. The music is ‘uncomplicated, self-confident, vivacious and tuneful’ and the work deserves a revival. Moreover, it forms a perfect partner for ‘The Wanderer’, both works being about travelling and requiring similar orchestral and choral forces. The two works in their entirety are too long for the same concert and so, by permission of Oxford University Press, some of the portraits set for solo singer will be read by Bernadette Kearney, a former BBC West Midlands television presenter and newsreader. The movements we will be singing are Prologue, The Knight, The Clerk of Oxenford, The Haberdasher and his Fraternity: The Merchant, The Shipman, The Poor Parson of a Town and L’Envoie

Soloists in the Dyson work will be James Rhoads, a lay clerk at Worcester Cathedral, and John Frith. A few of the solo portraits will be read by Bernadette Kearney, the former BBC West Midlands newsreader and presenter, now a teacher and Ledbury resident. The Penyard Chamber Orchestra, augmented to 52 players, will join the choirs for this concert which will be conducted by The Penyard Singers music director, Tony Washington 

Tickets £12, Concessions £10, Under 18s £5

The Penyard Singers are an amateur, mixed-voice chamber choir rehearsing Wednedays at Christ Church, Ross-on-Wye. Ledbury Community Choir rehearse Tuesday evenings at John Masefield High School, Ledbury. Newcomers to both choirs are always welcome, and there are no auditions; the main qualification is that you want to sing and that you can sing in tune.