Canterbury Festival

The first concert I went to with my sister was in the Nave of Canterbury Cathedral. It was a real treat for me to hear "The Sixteen " conducted by Harry Christophers sing the complete Monteverdi Vespers of 1610. I had sung in it with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, had visited Mantua two years ago in Italy where Monteverdi was the music director and where he composed the Vespers. I had also seen a great BBC production where "The Sixteen" had sung part of the Vespers in Mantua. "The sixteen" have been lead by Harry Christophers for 40 years and are one of the premium choral singing group in the UK. Of special interest also is that Harry Christophers was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and he also went to the King’s School in Canterbury.
The second day was a Festival Choral Evensong sung by a local choir. Unfortunately not either the boys or girls Cathedral Choir but is was great to hear evensong in Canterbury Cathedral. Our St Christopher’s singers at Christchurch Cathedral in Victoria are a semi-professional group and sing to a very high standard at Evensong each Sunday at 4.30.
The third concert was solo piano by 42 year old Finghin Collins from south east Ireland. A technically and artistically superb musician. He played Mozart Sonata In A Major K.331 Alla Turca. He then played two pieces complosed by Irish composers Sam Perkin and Marian Ingolsby to accompany a Tapestry display that is part of the New Ross Piano Festival of which Finghin is the founding artistic director. The final piece in the program was Schubert’s Sonata in A Major,D.959.