WRC prepares for British Invasion of choral music

"One if by Land, Two if by Sea"—the British are coming!

The final concert in Western Reserve Chorale’s (WRC) 31st season will welcome a British invasion of choral music, featuring compositions and lyrics derived from the expansive history of the choral traditions from the British Isles.

Featuring music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Rutter, Thomas Morley, Edward Elgar and others, in their interpretations of texts written by Shakespeare, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edward Lear, and even Lennon & McCartney, the concert will take place at Church of the Gesu in University Heights on Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 p.m.

WRC will share songs of the land, whether "Over Hill, Over Dale" (a setting of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream), or the sun setting on the silver shores of the Northern Land as set by Edward Elgar. There will be songs of those who “sail the ocean blue" (Gilbert and Sullivan), and Vaughan Williams' setting of the folk song "The Dark-Eyed Sailor."

The chorale will take either the high or low road to Scotland, to the shores of Jonathan Quick’s "Loch Lomand," then catch the boat to the "Isle of Skye" (in a setting of the Scottish folk tune now better known as the theme to the "Outlander" television series).

Perhaps you’ll catch a whale of a tale in a sea shanty from down under, or be carried away by the antics of "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" sailing away in their beautiful pea-green boat.

David Gilson

David Gilson is the artistic director of the Western Reserve Chorale and director of music at Church of the Saviour UMC.

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Volume 16, Issue 6, Posted 11:49 AM, 06.01.2023