News

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.

• New release by Seattle-based choir The Esoterics includes John's Sleep Canticle (1968) and Let there be light (1974). Also available on iTunes.
  
  
• John’s Seek the Lord is included in the new Choirbook for The Queen - a collection of 44 contemporary anthems published to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
  
  
• BBC Radio 3’s 'The Choir' on Sunday, 18 September at 5pm featured John's South of the Line (BBC Symphony Chorus/Stephen Jackson).
  
  
• Three of John's recent choral works feature on Novello's 2011 Choral Sampler
  
  
• Symphony No.2, op.68 (1970)
  Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Martin Yates conductor
  
  
• ‘The Rose Tree’  a new CD of music in memory of Professor Basil Deane featuring compositions by Lennox Berkeley, Elizabeth Poston, Anthony Hedges and others includes John's setting of W. B. Yeats’ poetry in the song cycle ‘A Woman Young and Old’ for soprano, cello, harpsichord and recorder.
  www.primafacie.ascrecords.com/catalogue.htm
  
  
• An English Requiem was selected as ‘Premiere of the Year’ by two of Classical Music Magazine's new music writers:
  
  “My ultimate premiere of the year was An English Requiem … a deeply moving and very accomplished work given a first-rate performance at the Three Choirs Festival … the musical highlight was the Mahlerian fourth movement, ‘Hope’, featuring Carolyn Sampson as the radiant soprano soloist.” (Clare Stevens)
  
  “… here we have a composer still actively producing music of the highest quality, music that is beautifully crafted, instantly communicative without any sense of dumbing-down or condescension, and always with something worthwhile to say.” (Christopher Morley)
  
  

Concerts and events in 2012

4 March St Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury
also 18 May, Christ Church, Skipton, North Yorkshire
and 19 May, Heritage Centre, Macclesfield, Cheshire
Cello Concerto (first performance)
(in association with Orchestras Live as part of
Music Nation/Cultural Olympiad — a Countdown Event for the London 2012 Festival)
Northern Chamber Orchestra; Nicholas Ward director; Raphael Wallfisch cello

7 March
Piano Trio
Zoe Beyers violin; David Powell cello; Robert Markham piano
CBSO Centre, Berkeley St, Birmingham

17 March
String Quartet No.2
Enesco Quartet
Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham

29 March
Cello Concerto
Southbank Sinfonia; Raphael Wallfisch cello
FREE Rush Hour Concert
St John’s Waterloo, London

Concerts and events in 2011

9 December Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
and 11 December, Birmingham Town Hall
There is no rose, op.14
The Sixteen; Harry Christophers (director)

27 November 2011
There is no rose, op.14
St Mary’s Westerham, Kent
Church choir; Michael Barlow director

26 November
South of the Line
Newcastle Bach Choir
Eric Cross conductor; Bonnie Shaw soprano; Christopher Foster baritone
King's Hall, University of Newcastle

19 November
Incantation (1956)
They are happy (1988)
William Byrd Singers; Stephen Hargreaves organ; Keith Orrell conductor
Christ Church, West Didsbury, Manchester

29 September
Fellowship of the Stretched String, op.165
Fretwork and Clare Wilkinson mezzo-soprano
Neanderkirche, Dusseldorf

24 September
O Lorde the maker of al thinge
Choir of Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool
Richard Lea organ; Philip Arkwright director
Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool

8 August
In Retrospect, op.159
ESO String Quartet
Three Choirs Festival
Croome Court, Worcs.

25 June
South of the Line, op.109
BBC Symphony Chorus; Stephen Jackson conductor
Deborah Miles-Johnson mezzo-soprano; Andrew Rupp baritone
O Duo percussion; Maria Marchant piano; Paul Webster piano
BBC Maida Vale Studios (studio concert)

18, 19, 20 February and 10 March
Sleep Canticle, op.81
Let there be light
The Esoterics, Eric Banks director
18 February, Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, Seattle, USA
19 February, Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma, WA, USA
20 February, Holy Rosary Catholic Church, West Seattle, USA
10 March, American Choral Directors Association Conference, Chicago, USA

19 January 2011
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C (1984)
Choral Evensong from Bath Abbey
BBC Radio 3 live broadcast (Repeated 23 January)

News, concerts and events in 2010

• The music of John Joubert provided the centrepiece of 2010’s Three Choirs Festival in and around Gloucester Cathedral. Joubert, who attended as Composer in Residence, composed no fewer than three new works for the festival, which took place between 6 and 15 August.

  A celebratory setting of Psalm 100 (Jubilate) for double choir, brass, harp, timpani and organ, was premiered by massed choirs at the Opening Service on 7 August. Meanwhile the combined choirs of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester Cathedrals gave the first performance of Joubert’s Preces and Responses on 11 August in a Festival Service that was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

  The most highly-anticipated event, however, was the world premiere of An English Requiem by the Festival Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra, soprano Carolyn Sampson and baritone Neal Davies conducted by Adrian Partington in Gloucester Cathedral on 9 August. Running to around 45 minutes, the Requiem is among Joubert’s most significant choral works to date, each of its six movements addressing a different aspect of death.

  In addition to the three world premieres, organist Ashley Grote performed Joubert’s 1961 Passacaglia and Fugue at his recital in Gloucester Cathedral on 9 August and the ESO Chamber Orchestra performed Temps Perdu in Cheltenham Ladies’ College on 14 August.

• A new release on the Guild label, ‘Ancient Sorceries’ Music for Countertenor and Recorder, includes John's song cycle Crabbed Age and Youth, op.82. “John Joubert's masterful settings of well known poems by Shakespeare and others, movingly contrasting the wisdom and infirmity of old age with the joys and carefree activity of youth”.
• Gordon Hunt, www.oboist.co.uk, performed John's Concerto for Oboe and Strings at the International Double Reed Society Conference at the University of Oklahoma in June: www.idrs2010.org

15 December 2010
There is no rose, op.14
Choral Evensong from Winchester College
BBC Radio 3 live broadcast (Repeated 19 December)

13 November 2010
Pilgrimage Song (world première)
Cappella Novocastriensis, Eric Cross conductor
St George's Church, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne

9 November 2010
Piano Sonata No.3, op.157
Duncan Honeybourne piano
Chester Town Hall

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, Neal Davies bass baritone, Adrian Partington conductor
Gloucester Cathedral

9 August 2010
Passacaglia and Fugue, op.35
Ashley Grote organ
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

26 June 2010
Concerto for Oboe and Strings, op.160
Gordon Hunt oboe
International Double Reed Society Conference, University of Oklahoma, USA

28 May 2010
Divisions on a Ground, op.154
Joseph Spooner cello
St Stephen’s, Gloucester Rd, London SW7

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)

Concerts and events in 2009

• 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 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.
  

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