The Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II: A Guide to Classical Music Celebrations
The classical music industry will be celebrating the Platinum Jubilee in a variety of ways over the June Bank Holiday Weekend and beyond.
We can be certain that HM Queen Elizabeth II's 70th year on the throne will not go unnoticed, with preparations for parades, parties, and events of all kinds well underway across the UK. We've compiled a list of some of the ways the classical music world will commemorate the Platinum Jubilee over the June Bank Holiday Weekend and beyond.
This month, the English Music Festival returns to Oxfordshire's Dorchester Abbey (pictured) (27 - 29 May 2022). The festival will mark the Jubilee with a concert at Sutton Courtenay's All Saints' church on Saturday, in addition to a jam-packed schedule (28 May).
The Elysian Singers will perform A Garland for the Queen, a part-song collection commissioned for Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, alongside works by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and Robin Milford.
More information about the concert and tickets can be found here.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic will perform a Platinum Jubilee concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on May 31 to commemorate the Queen's 70th year on the throne. The orchestra, led by Andrew Manze, will perform a 'best of British' programme that includes the National Anthem, Frank Bridge's Dance Rhapsody, and Elgar's Cello Concerto, which will feature cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. The concert will conclude with a performance of Vaughan Williams' one-act ballet Job, which is based on William Blake's illustrations.
More information about the concert and tickets can be found here.
The Southbank Centre
The Southbank Centre's Jubilee celebrations span the entire Jubilee weekend and feature a wide range of genres, including punk, jazz, folk dance, and party. The Centre's classical programme kicks off on June 1 with a concert featuring soundtracks from on-screen depictions of royals such as The King's Speech, The King and I, and The Queen, presented by BBC Radio 2 and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
A celebratory concert of pieces from Queen Elizabeth I's Coronation or a royal wedding is also performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Christopher Warren-Green), the Royal Choral Society, and the Bach Choir.
The event, which will be hosted by BBC Radio 3's Katie Derham and will feature soloists soprano Fflur Wyn and trumpet player Crispian Steele-Perkins, will take place at the Royal Festival Hall on June 4th.
More information about the concert and tickets can be found here.
ORA Singers
The ORA Singers (pictured) will release two singles next week to commemorate the reign of Britain's longest-serving monarch (2 June). O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth our Queen, by William Byrd, will be performed alongside a new commission by British composer Bob Chilcott, which will use the same words as Byrd's original, written in praise of Elizabeth I.
The ORA singers will perform these works at Aldeburgh Festival on June 11th, followed by a series of live performances at Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Ambronay Festival, Hatfield House Festival and Canterbury Festival in 2022.
Hertfordshire Festival of Music
The Hertfordshire Festival of Music, which runs from June 2 to 11, will begin tomorrow. The festival has royal ties, with Judith Weir CBE, last year's featured living composer, also serving as master of the Queen's music. The Hertfordshire Festival of Music Concert Band will perform a free outdoor concert in the grounds of Hertford Castle on June 2 as part of the festival's Jubilee celebrations.
A Jubilee Choral Celebration will be held at the festival, featuring music from the Queen's 1953 coronation as well as works by Parry, Walton, Handel, and Purcell.
Under the batons of conductors Manvinder Rattan, Jane Eldred, and Martin Penny, the Choir of All Saints', Hertford, the Choir of Hertford St Andrew, and the Hertford Chamber Choir will perform the programme with organist William Whitehead.
More information about the concerts and tickets can be found here.
Opera Holland Park
Along with performances of Eugene Onegin on 3 June and Carmen on 4 June, Opera Holland Park is celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee by offering visitors early entry (doors open at 5pm on 3 and 4 June), happy hour, and Jubilee-themed dining.
Before the shows, artists will put on a series of pop-up performances.
You can find out more about celebrating the Jubilee at Opera Holland Park here.
Royal School of Church Music
To mark the Platinum Jubilee the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) has launched its Platinum Project. The school has commissioned In Our Service, a new choral piece from British composer Thomas Hewitt Jones and is hoping to get choirs around the country singing it on or around the Jubilee weekend. The sheet music, suitable for cathedral and church choirs, choral societies, chamber choirs, community choirs and schools, is available to purchase at the RSCM website and may be emailed or photocopied within each choir without further charge.
Participating choirs are encouraged to share their progress on social platforms using the school’s hashtags: #RSCMPlatinum and #InOurService.
Tedd Joselson
Belgian-American pianist Tedd Joselson will make his return to the concert platform after a 23-year hiatus with his Platinum Jubilee concert Flights of Fantasy on 8 June at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore. Presented in association with the Musicians' Initiative (conducted by Alvin Seville Arumugam) the concert will feature the world premiere of Manu Martin's Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano & Orchestra as well as works by Tchaikovsky and Brahms.
More information about the concert and tickets can be found here.
Buxton Opera House
Buxton Opera House will celebrate the Jubilee on Monday 13 June with local school children performing on the Opera house stage in Happy and Glorious – Jubilee Singing Celebration. Students from Buxton Junior School, Earl Sterndale C of E Primary School, Harpur Hill Primary School and St Luke’s C of E Primary School will be joined by Platform 3’s Kaleidoscope Community Choir (led by Carol Bowns) to present a selection of songs.
This project, funded by Arts Council England through the Foundation Derbyshire Jubilee Fund, is led by musical director, Tom Newall.
More information about the concert and tickets can be found here.
Aldeburgh Festival
Britten Pears Arts’ Aldeburgh Festival will also present the choral collection created to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in its A Garland for the Queen concert on Saturday 14 June. The BBC Singers (conducted by Owain Park) will perform the collection as part of a programme including One Day to Sing by the Singers’ associate composer, Judith Weir, and world premieres by Hilary Campbell and Britten Pears Young Artist Omri Kochavi. This concert will be recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
More information about the concert and tickets can be found here.
BBC Proms
The BBC Concert Orchestra will mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with Prom 10: Music for Royal Occasions celebrating the relationship between music and monarchy with performances by the orchestra (conducted by Bramwell Tovey) with BBC Singers.
The programme, presented at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 22 July (and broadcast by the BBC on Sunday 24 July), will encompass a wide range of repertoire including Handel’s Coronation Anthem ‘Zadok the Priest’ and Water Music and work by composers including Britten, the current Master of the Queen’s Music Judith Weir, and British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad, who’s BBC commission, Your Servant, Elizabeth, will receive its world premiere.