Before the Ending of the Day The Exon Singers & Richard Wilberforce

• Howard Skempton (1947- ):
• 1 Ave Virgo sanctissima 02:56
• Richard Wilberforce (1984- )
• 2 Preces 01:43
• Matthew Martin (1976- ):
• 3 Te lucis ante terminum (2013) 02:45
• Francis Jackson (1917- ):
• 4 Te lucis ante terminum (2008) 03:57
• David Briggs (1962- ):
• 5 Psalm 121: will lift up mine eyes 03:49
• David Goodenough (1968- ):
• 6 Psalm 133: Behold how good and joyful a thing it is 02:51
• Francis Jackson:
• 7 A Hymn to God the Father 05:06
• Brian Chapple (1945- ):
• 8 Safe where I cannot lie yet 03:57
• Robin Holloway (1943- ):
• 9 Splendour of the Father’s Glory 03:30
• James Burton (1974- ):
• 10 Magnificat 03:59
• Toby Young (1990- ):
• 11 The Lord's Prayer 03:21
• Joseph Phibbs (1974- ):
• 12 Salve Regina 04:50
• Gabriel Jackson (1962- ):
• 13 Ave Maria 06:38
• Gareth Treseder (1985- ):
• 14 O Virgo splendens 04:25
• Richard Wilberforce:
• 15 My Soul, there is a country 02:30
• David Bednall (1979- ):
• 16 Fanfare – Processional 04:18
• Total Runtime 01:00:35

Info zu Before the Ending of the Day

Over the years the Exon Singers have received considerable recognition for their commitment to commissioning and recording new works from eminent composers. For their 50th anniversary album on new label Rubicon Classics, they have selected some of their favourites in the form of an extended service but without spoken word. Most of the music was written for the choir's annual broadcast of Choral Evening Prayer from Buckfast Abbey. Since 1997 Composers-in-Residence have been invited to their summer Festival in Tavistock, on the edge of Dartmoor, and their works are represented here. The choir s performances include the Oxford Festival of Contemporary Music and the Edinburgh Festival, as well as concerts in St John s College, Cambridge, Gloucester, Wells, Winchester and Salisbury. Richard Wilberforce has been Conductor and Artistic Director since 2012, succeeding Matthew Owens, and here writes his first works for the Exons: a set of opening responses and a new Festival Hymn.

The Exon Singers
Richard Wilberforce, direction

The Exon Singers
founded in 1966, is recognized as one of the UK’s leading chamber choirs. It has become renowned for its dynamic and expressive performances of music from the Renaissance to the present day, with reviews describing the choir’s performances as “brilliantly sung” (Classic FM), with “beautifully tailored singing” (Gramophone), and a “brilliant soprano sound” (The Daily Telegraph), where “The Exon Singers excel” (BBC Music Magazine).

The choir broadcasts regularly on BBC Radios 2, 3 and 4 and has made a number of highly acclaimed recordings for Albany, ASV, Delphian and Regent record labels. The choir’s Artistic Director and Conductor is Richard Wilberforce. Richard succeeds Matthew Owens, under whose direction the choir received considerable recognition for its commitment to commissioning new works from some of today’s most exciting composers – Brian Chapple, Gary Davison, Joseph Phibbs, Richard Allain, David Briggs, Grayston Ives, Francis Jackson, Gabriel Jackson, Howard Skempton, Philip Moore, Philip Wilby, Matthew Martin and Robin Holloway. The choir welcomed James Burton as Composer in Residence for the 2015 Festival.

To celebrate the choir’s 50 years of music making and its 50th Festival, they have recorded a new CD of music commissioned by them for Choral Evening Prayer; this CD will be released early in 2017.

Since 1973, the annual Exon Singers Festival has been based in the historic market town of Tavistock on the edge of Dartmoor, and includes the beautiful venues of Tavistock Parish Church and Buckfast Abbey. The choir’s festival performances include the Oxford Festival of Contemporary Music and the Edinburgh Festival, as well as concerts in St John’s College, Cambridge, Gloucester Cathedral, Wells Cathedral and at venues in Winchester, Salisbury and Belfast.

Richard Wilberforce
trained at St John’s College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, where he was the recipient of a number of awards. His career as a countertenor led him to sing solo roles in many of Europe’s principal opera houses, such as the Staatsoper unter den Linden, the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, the Théâtre du Capitole and the Grand Théâtre de Provence, and with such conductors as René Jacobs, John Eliot Gardiner and Christian Curnyn.

Richard has just completed a 4 year term as Director of the Hallé Youth Choir, and continues to work with many of the country’s leading choirs, including, the Leeds Philharmonic Chorus as Chorus Master, the Exon Singers as Conductor and Artistic Director, and English Voices as Associate Artistic Director, as well as the London Philharmonic Choir, the BBC Symphony Chorus, and the Hallé Choir. He has previously directed the Choir of the American Cathedral in Paris, the Orlando Chamber Choir and Dorking Choral Society, whom he led to overall victory in the 2012 Leith Hill Music Festival. He has conducted at the Royal Albert Hall, the Bridgewater Hall and the Royal Festival Hall.

Richard has conducted the Hallé Orchestra, the Bristol Ensemble and the National Festival Orchestra. He chorus-mastered Richard Jones’s Olivier Award nominated production of Ariodante, conducted the off-stage chorus for Simon McBurney’s Die Zauberflöte, and conducted Flavio. Richard’s own compositions have been recorded and broadcast.

During this season Richard has conducted Shadwell Opera’s production of O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness in London, James Burton’s The Convergence of the Twain, and Rachmaninov’s Vespers. He also made his Royal Opera House debut singing in the chorus of Gluck’s Orphée.

Booklet für Before the Ending of the Day