Sassoon Poem to feature in Fund-Raising Concert in St Andrew's Church, Mells

The village of Mells, outside Frome, is the location of poet Siegfried Sassoon’s grave. It is thus especially appropriate that St Andrew’s Church in Mells should be the venue for the second performance of a setting of Sassoon’s poem ‘Everyone Sang’ by Oxford-based composer John Duggan.

On the 19th December, the Royal Middlesex Orpheus will bring this new work to Mells as part of an Advent concert in support of the community-run Mells village shop and also the church. It will be performed together with Duggan’s setting of the poem ‘Requiem’ by another World War One poet, Ivor Gurney.

Royal Middlesex Orpheus music director Matthew O’Sullivan, whose own composition ‘Advent: White Full Moon’ will receive its world premiere at the Mells concert, said of John’s work: “I was immediately taken by John’s imaginative approach to choral texture, which creates the kind of transparency that one comes across all too rarely in new music. The way the music works in reminiscences of both very new and very old styles of music, while always remaining accessible, makes it a delight for the listener.”

The Royal Middlesex Orpheus is a choir of young singers, most of whom met as choral scholars at Cambridge University, and who now enjoy singing to a professional standard while pursuing careers in other fields. In May 2008 the men of the Royal Middlesex Orpheus took part in the 3rd Bratislava Festa Choralis, competing against choirs from all over the world, where they were awarded first place in the male voice section. On 19th December they bring male and female sections together in a programme where the very newest works rub shoulders with Advent classics from the 11th to the 20th century.

Tickets cost £8.00/£6.00 conc. and are available in advance from Mells Village Shop or by contacting 01373 812201 or 812320. The concert begins at 6.30.

Journalists: For further background contact Matthew O’Sullivan on 07812 019776 or matthewos@sky.com