Savoy Choristers in the London Handel Festival

The King’s Chapel of the Savoy was sold out on Wednesday 20 March for a choral concert which included our choristers.

Part of the prestigious annual London Handel Festival, the programme featured five of the composer’s large-scale works, written for the Chapel Royal in the 18th century. This evening of royal music was made particularly special, being held in one of the four present-day Chapels Royal and it was a triumph.

The treble choristers’ singing as part of the choir was outstanding. They were also privileged to sing alongside some of the country’s top professional Baroque-specialist singers and instrumentalists.

Some of Handel’s polyphonic writing is highly intricate and the boys still delivered an excellent top line in the choruses, for which they received the praise of, among others, the event’s organiser and highly acclaimed conductor Adrian Butterfield.

Handel’s music is famously linked with the British monarchy: the ‘Water Music’ was commissioned by King George I for a concert on the River Thames in 1717. Four renowned anthems were written for the coronation of King George II in 1727; Handel’s ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’ accompanied an impressive public event held by the same King in Green Park in 1749. So popular was Handel’s music that ‘Zadok the Priest’ has been performed at every coronation ceremony in Britain since it was written, including most recently for King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Even when it is for a less grandiose occasion, the choristers still seem to get excited when this work appears on the upcoming music list!

Thanks must go to Philip Berg, Master of the Music and The Reverend Canon Thomas Woodhouse, Chaplain, for enabling this superb concert to take place and for our choristers to have the opportunity to take part.

Congratulations to the boys and all the other musicians for a first-rate performance and an uplifting evening for all.