Concert start time: 7.30pm

Elgar Sea Pictures
Cassie To Songs of the Reef
John Adams Harmonium

Crouch End Festival Chorus
London Orchestra da Camera
Finchley Children’s Music Group
Jess Dandy contralto
David Temple conductor

Cassie To’s new piece Songs of the Reef is a CEFC Commission and is indeed a symphony of the sea. The work explores the deterioration and resurgence of the coral reef, incorporating underwater sounds recorded by Marine Biologist Steve Simpson which are heard alongside the ‘live’ sound of choir, children’s choir and orchestra. The new work is full of extraordinary colours and vitality. Elgar’s Sea Pictures performed by the young mezzo-soprano, Jessica Dandy, includes the song ‘Where Corals Lie’ – a fitting link to the theme of the new work. The most substantial work in the concert is Harmonium by John Adams. The work which sets the poetry of John Donne and Emily Dickinson ends with the words ‘…ahh the sea’.