Our Centenary Spring Concert took place on 23 March 2023 - and what an extraordinary evening it was! We performed Elgar Give Unto the Lord, R. Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music and the world premiere of Jacques Cohen's Creation. We were joined by the always faultless Cohen Ensemble, which also played R Vaughan Williams The Wasps. St Giles Cripplegate church in Barbican was filled to capacity with a wonderfully appreciative audience. It was particularly special for us to finally perform Creation, which was written to fulfil the last wish of our much-missed former member Christine Didelot, as the original intended premiere date was postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic. We all hope that Creation, a glorious and dramatic work conveying a deeply important message to take care of our environment, will be performed many times in the future. But to us, this will always be the definitive one. The Choir gave a thrillingly committed performance, the professional Cohen Ensemble were exceptional, our professional Contralto soloist Mae Heydorn truly exquisite, and the Finchley Children's Music Group sweet yet haunting as the chorus of children yet to be born.
Our sincere thanks to everyone who made the concert possible and so memorable - Jacques Cohen who honoured the memory of Christine Didelot so beautifully by writing Creation and working with two choirs, an orchestra and a soloist to ready us all, all the choir members and musicians, our committee members who organised all the necessary concert logistics, our lovely audience, and our very generous corporate sponsors.