News

One of Nick Barnard's choices for Musicweb's, 2009 Disc of the Year:
John JOUBERT, Choral Music, Louis Halsey Singers/Louis Halsey, rec. 1979,
BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY BMS 102CDH

"Multiple reasons for choosing this. Hooray for the British Music Society, double hooray for the excellent engineering and sensitive performances but triple hooray with an extra hooray for Christmas for John Joubert. Coming back to these performances after many years, it emphasised to me just what a fine and strikingly individual composer he is. There is glorious music here, much of it sacred but with a steely backbone that saves it from the pious wallowings that blights so much church music for me. Here is a composer whose music demands a serious reassessment and soon."

John's Symphony No 1 is featured in Lyrita's new double set CD release 'Celebrating 50 Years Devoted to British Music'.

John's Joy in the Morning is included on Ex Cathedra's new release of Christmas music.

John is to be Composer-in-residence at the Three Choirs Festival 2010 in Gloucester. Artistic Director, Adrian Partington writes: "One of the leading composers in the United Kingdom of the past fifty years has been John Joubert. We are all thrilled that John has written an important new work for the 2010 Festival, An English Requiem. Following the example of Brahms, Joubert has used a selection of biblical texts. The score is thrilling: sometimes bold, sometimes majestic, and sometimes intimate. This is the most important Festival commission for many years."

Gloucester Cathedral Choir has launched its new CD — The Choral Music of John Joubert. The release by Priory Records features 12 works recorded on location at Gloucester Cathedral. The choir sang five pieces from the new CD in the Nave at 12.15 pm on July 11.

The British Music Society has just released a CD of English piano music (Vaughan Williams, Ireland and others) played by John McCabe in celebration of his 70th birthday this year. Included on this disc is John Joubert's Dance Suite, op.21.

John will be a guest speaker at the Federation of Recorded Music Societies weekend, April 17th-19th.

Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir (Paul Spicer conductor) are performing Five Songs of Incarnation, see below. Their recent CD To Music includes John's Hymne to God the Father.

The viol consort Fretwork, with mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson, give the first performance of Fellowship of the Stretched String, a setting of words by Stephen Tunnicliffe at Wigmore Hall in February.

51 Directors of Music in the UK and US were asked by BBC Music Magazine to name their five favourite carols and motets. The resulting poll put John's There is No Rose at number 7. This story was also featured on the main BBC website.

Concerts and events in 2009/2010

Wherever you are in the world, if you are performing some of John’s music, let us know, and we shall happily list you here. Please contact us at info@johnjoubert.org.uk.

14 August 2010
Temps Perdu, op. 99
ESO Chamber Orchestra
The Cheltenham Ladies' College

11 August 2010
Responses (First performance)
The Three Cathedral Choirs, Adrian Partington conductor
Gloucester Cathedral (Live BBC R3 Evensong)

9 August 2010
An English Requiem (world premiere)
Three Choirs Festival Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra, Carolyn Sampson soprano, Adrian Partington conductor
Gloucester Cathedral

7 August 2010
Jubilate (First performance)
(Opening Service, Three Choirs Festival)
Three Choirs Festival Chorus, Philharmonia Brass, Ashley Grote organ, Adrian Partington conductor
Gloucester Cathedral

26 June 2010
Pro Pace Motets, op.19
St Albans Chamber Choir
All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney

23 April 2010
Song Cycle: 'The Rose is Shaken in the Wind'
Lesley Jane Rogers soprano and John Turner recorder
Sittingbourne Music Society

21 March 2010
Three Portraits, op.97
Ex Cathedra Consort, Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
Highbury Hall, Birmingham

27 February 2010
Miniature String Quartet
Astaria Quartet
St James's Church, Wollaston, Stourbridge

13, 14 and 20 February 2010
Octet, op.33
Liquid Architecture
13 February, Edinburgh (Edinburgh Society of Musicians)
14 February, Torphichen (Torphichen Nights)
20 February, Helensburgh (Helensburgh Music Society)

20, 27 December 2009 and 6 January 2010
Torches, op.7a
Tiroler Motettenchor Stadt Wörgl, Michael Schöch organist, Michel König conductor
[Dec 20] Kufstein Parish Church (Tyrol, Austria);
[Dec 27] Rattenberg Parish Church (Tyrol, Austria);
[Jan 6] Landeck Parish Church (Tyrol, Austria)

19 December 2009
There is no rose, op.14 and Torches, op.7a
Leominster Choral Society, Vernon Thurgood conductor
Leominster Priory, Leominster, Herefordshire

12, 18, 19 December 2009
There is no rose, op.14
Belle Voci, Duncan Fielden conductor
[12 Dec] St Laurence, Alvechurch, Worcestershire; [18/19 Dec] Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire

12 & 13 December 2009
Three Carols, op.102
The Choral Society of Durham, Rodney Wynkoop conductor
Duke Chapel, Durham, North Carolina, U.S.

12 December 2009
All and some (Nowell sing we), op.58
South Petherton Combined Arts Choir, Roger Stacey conductor
Church of St Peter and St Paul, South Petherton, Somerset

10 December 2009
There is no rose, op.14
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers director
Q.E.H. London

8 December 2009
Fellowship of the Stretched String, op.165
Fretwork and Clare Wilkinson mezzo-soprano
Rolf-Liebermann-Studio, (North German Radio), Hamburg

7 December 2009
There is no rose, op.14
The Choir of St John’s College Cambridge, Andrew Nethsingha director
Symphony Hall, Birmingham

5, 6, 12, 13 December 2009
Let there be light
Sleep Canticle
The Esoterics, Eric Banks director
5 December 2009 Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynwood, WA, USA
6 December 2009 Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma, WA, USA
12 December 2009 St Joseph's Catholic Church, Seattle, USA
13 December 2009 Holy Rosary Catholic Church, W. Seattle, USA

28, 29 November 2009
There is no rose, op.14
The Choir of St John’s College Cambridge, Andrew Nethsingha director
Chapel of St John’s College Cambridge
Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on 29 November at 4pm

20 November 2009
There is no rose, op.14
The King's Singers
Cadogan Hall, SW1

8 August 2009
Fellowship of the Stretched String, op.165
Fretwork and Clare Wilkinson mezzo-soprano
Three Choirs Festival, Hereford

2 August 2009
Divertimento, op.2 for Piano Duet
Christopher Robinson and Elizabeth Robinson
Great Witley Church, Worcestershire

11 July 2009
String Quartet 'In Retrospect', op.159
The Qua4tet
St Chad's Church, Greengate St, Stafford

16 June 2009
Shropshire Hills, op.155
Mark Tannett tenor
Old Royal Naval Chapel, Trinity College of Music, Greenwich

12 June 2009
A Woman Young and Old (song cycle)
Lesley-Jane Rogers soprano, John Turner recorder, Jonathan Price cello, Ian Thompson harpsichord
Händel-Haus, Halle, Germany

8 June 2009
Octet, op.33
Students of the RCM, Tom Peterson conductor
St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road

26 April 2009
Seek the Lord (anthem)
Choir of Holy Trinity Church, Andrew Jones director
Shakespeare's Birthday Service
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford upon Avon

21 March 2009
Lines from 'The Youth of Man', op.90
Ionian Singers, Timothy Salter conductor
St Giles, Cripplegate, City of London

12 March 2009
A Woman Young and Old (song cycle, world premiere)
Lesley-Jane Rogers soprano, John Turner recorder, Jonathan Price cello, Ian Thompson harpsichord
The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

1 February 2009
Fellowship of the Stretched String (world premiere)
Fretwork and Clare Wilkinson mezzo-soprano
Wigmore Hall, London

17 January 2009
Five Songs of Incarnation
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir (Paul Spicer conductor)
Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire

Concerts and events in 2008

• Sarah Cunningham's new CD, Play This Passionate, music for Solo Viol (Virgin Veritas), includes a recording of John's piece Tombeau. “… the viola da gamba is beautiful and voluptuous. Cunningham explores its repertoire, including some fine modern pieces with intelligence.” (BBC Music Magazine, July 2008). Sarah will be performing the piece in her recital at the East Cork Early Music Festival (see below).
• Five Songs of Incarnation and This is the Gate of the Lord can be heard on Chester-Novello’s 2008 choral sampler.
  

20, 21, 22 December
Torches, op.7a
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Simon Halsey conductor
Symphony Hall, Birmingham

20 December
There is No Rose, op.14
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury director
Birmingham Town Hall

19 December
There is No Rose, op.14
Goylants Kamerkoor
Dorpskerk, Blaricum

17 December
Joy in the Morning, op.136b
Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
St John's, Smith Square, London SW1

15 December
Five Songs of Incarnation, op.163
Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, Paul Spicer conductor
St Alban's Church, Highgate, Birmingham

13, 14 December
Torches, op.7a
Northern Sinfonia, Simon Halsey conductor
The Sage, Gateshead

14 December
There is No Rose, op.14
Goylants Kamerkoor
Buitenkerk, Kampen

13 December
There is No Rose, op.14
Swansea Bach Choir, John Hugh Thomas OBE conductor
St Teilo's Church, Llandeilo Fawr

13 December
There is No Rose, op.14
Goylants Kamerkoor
St Willibrordkerk, Utrecht

5 December
O Lorde, the maker of al thing, op.7b
Exultate Singers, David Ogden conductor
Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building, Bristol

22 November
O tristia secla priora; Solus ad victimam from Pro Pace Motets
C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective
Venue tbc, New York City, NY
www.c4ensemble.org

12 November
Piano Sonata No 2, op 71
John McCabe piano
Liverpool University

22 October
BBC Radio 3’s Choral Evensong from Gloucester Cathedral at 4pm with the Choir of Gloucester Cathedral, Adrian Partington conductor (repeated on Sunday 26): to include
O Lorde, The Maker Of Al Thing
Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in A
Blest Glorious Man
Hymn: Give us the Wings of Faith (Edgbaston)

Friday 10 October
Lyric Fantasy on themes from the opera Jane Eyre, op.144
Mark Bebbington piano
Sittingbourne Music Society

Sunday 21 September
Tombeau, op.86
Sarah Cunningham viola da gamba
East Cork Early Music Festival

Friday 19 September
Octet, op.33
Liquid Architecture
Regent Hall, Oxford St, London W1

14 July
String Quartet 'In Retrospect', op.159
ESO Quartet
St Swithun’s Church, The Shambles, Church St, Worcester

29 June
Celebrating English Song Series
Six Poems of Emily Brontë, op. 63
Patricia Rozario soprano
Mark Bebbington piano
St Bartholomew's Church, Tardebigge, Worcs.

6 June
Prelude on ‘York’, op.152
Martin Stacey organ
St Dominic’s Priory, Southampton Rd, London NW5

27 May
Songs from 'The Hour Hand', op. 101
Fanny Silfwerbrand soprano, Christopher Hartland recorder
Old Royal Naval Chapel, Trinity College of Music, Greenwich

22 April
Official Re-opening of Birmingham Town Hall by HRH Prince Charles
This is the Gate of the Lord, op. 164
Ex Cathedra, Jeffrey Skidmore director
Birmingham Town Hall

19 April
Hymn Tune Preludes: Picardy and The Old Hundredth
Alexander Negrin organ
Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom)

17 April
BBC Radio 3: 'Afternoon on 3'
Symphony No 1
BBC Concert Orchestra, Martin Yates conductor

13 April
Three Carols (Hymn to the Virgin, Be Merry, Lullay), op.102
The Oratory Singers, directed by Peter Litman
Chiesa del Gesu, Frascati, Italy

28 March
Piano Sonata No.1, op.24
Duncan Honeybourne piano
Chapel of the Ascension, University of Chichester

17 March
Divisions on a Ground, op. 154
Alice McVeigh, cello
Bromley Music and Literary Society
United Reformed Church, Widmore Rd, Bromley

14 March — Grange Hall, Southam
18 March — Town Hall, Birmingham
19 March — Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon
Concerto for oboe and strings, op.160
Virginia Shaw, oboe
Orchestra of the Swan, conductor David Curtis

6 March
Before the World Was Made, op. 162
Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano
John Turner, recorder
Jonathan Price, cello
Powis Hall, University of Bangor

1 March
Rorate Coeli, op. 107
York Cantores Chamber Choir
Marion Best, conductor
St Olave’s Church, Marygate, York

17 February
Divisions on a Ground, op. 154
Graham Waterhouse, cello
Music at the Fitzwilliam, Trumpington Street, Cambridge

25 January
UMS Presidential Visit: John Joubert in conversation
John Joubert discusses his career and musical influences with Colin Timms.
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham

11 January
Lesley-Jane Rogers soprano, John Turner recorder, John Wilson piano
The Rose is Shaken in the Wind, op. 137
The Turning Wheel, op. 95
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham