Let the festivities begin

As we gear up for this weekend's concert, signifying the start of the festive season, it seems like a prime opportunity to look back at some of our successes in recent times.

Since our launch in 2018, Corra Sound has gained strong momentum for our creative programmes in the local area, including a sell-out concert with virtuoso clarinettist Emma Johnson last Christmas, but also for our performances afield. These include concerts at Boxgrove Priory with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Harlequin Chamber Choir (March 2020!), St Martin’s Church for The Elgar Festival (October 2021) and Romsey Abbey for the Ethelflaeda Festival (October 2022).

We’ve also enjoyed repeated invitations to perform at the MADhurst Festival, Sussex and look forward to collaborating with Emma Johnson once again at the Lamberhurst Music Festival (Kent), next December.

Our Spring concerts (at South Hill Park Arts Centre and St Mary’s Church) this year celebrated the theme of motherhood and we felt well-placed to perform a mix of powerful, reflective, emotive and funny repertoire on this topic. Corra Sound focuses on female perspectives in all of the work that we create and share, and will continue to provide agency for this.

Our current programme is no exception, featuring music for upper voices and harp, by composers from Canada, Norway and the UK. After its success in Romsey Abbey with Olivia Jageurs, we are bringing the repertoire to St Nicolas’s Church, Guildford, this Saturday 3rd December at 7pm - this time, with harpist Gabriella Jones. (Read a new interview with Gabriella here.)

This includes Imogen Holst’s Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow, Gustav Holst’s Choral Hymns of the Rig Veda and Benjamin Britten’s iconic Ceremony of Carols, which form the main structure of the programme. These are complemented with other joyfully festive repertoire such as Sarah Deere-Jones’ Veni Coronaberis, Kelly-Marie Murphy’s Hodie Christus Natus Est and Winnie Bruckner’s contemplative Veni, veni Emanuel and The snow it melts the soonest. Gabriella Jones will also share original music by Caroline Lizotte and an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake theme by Keziah Thomas.

Audience members are genuinely in for a treat, and we very much hope we can entice you to join us! Tickets can be bought here (and on the door).