The Octavian Singers will be presenting a light programme for our summer concert, featuring as its centrepiece George Shearing’s Songs and Sonnets.

Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare was premiered in 1999 in Illinois, USA with John Rutter conducting and Shearing himself playing piano. Shearing was well-known in the USA as a jazz musician, and his songs Lullaby of Birdland and September in the Rain were particularly famous. He was born in the UK, blind from birth, but gained many opportunities for playing here as a soloist and with other jazz musicians such as Stephane Grapelli before emigrating to the USA. These 7 songs have a variety of texts and atmospheres, with a light jazzy piano and double bass accompaniment.

The rest of our concert consists of pieces to complement the lighter style. There are madrigals from the same era as Shakespeare, folk songs from England such as Waly, Waly and The Turtle Dove and partsongs from England and Germany including some other birds (the Nightingale and the Lark!)