Breaking down the barriers between meditative church music and theatre music, this rich programme features sumptuous symphony anthems, including the vivid Like as the hart by Pelham Humfrey, who remains little known owing to his untimely death in his mid twenties. Charles II liked to use his violin band even in chapel, creating a special blend of intense spiritual anguish punctuated by cheerful instrumental moments

EPSG:4326

Resounding Shores: Chamber and Chapel

Royal Academy of Music

Tower Music is one of the oldest traditions at the Carmel Bach Festival. It began in 1936 with the Heralding Trombones, led by two generations of the Stewart Family, Chandler and son Gordon, and the trombone quartet opened every Festival in the early days. The Stewart Family performed well into the 1960’s until the Festival Orchestra brass section was asked to carry on the tradition as it does today. They played from the balcony window of the old Sunset Auditorium which opened onto the parking lot – the window is still there, overlooking the foyer – and from the Carmel Mission bell tower, thus earning the nickname “Tower Music.”

Tower Music: Music for King Charles

Carmel Mission Basilica Museum

Odes for special occasions frame this opening programme, from Purcell’s ‘From hardy climes and dangerous toils of war’, performed at the wedding of Prince George of Denmark and Princess Anne, to one of his finest and most wistfully beautiful odes, ‘Love’s goddess sure was blind’, written in 1692 for the birthday of Queen Mary. In between, we hear Locke’s ‘The Oxford Ode’, commissioned in 1672 for the annual degree ceremony at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre. These three odes are interspersed with fantasias for viol consort by Purcell and Locke that represent the pinnacle of a two-century-long musical tradition in England.

Occasional Odes

Handel's mastery in blending celebratory and contemplative elements into his music has stood the test of time like few others. The transitioning between moments of majesty and reflective serenity is beautifully evident in the instrumental selections from Handel’s Occasional Oratorio and his Opera Alcina.

Matthew Locke

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 19, 2025

Occasional Odes · Royal Academy of Music

6 - 15 Mar, 2025

Timeless Beauty · New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Sep 29, 2024

Resounding Shores: Chamber and Chapel · Royal Academy of Music

Jul 17, 2024

Tower Music: Music for King Charles · Carmel Bach Festival

About

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