“Ave Maria” – Music written in homage to Mary the Virgin from across the ages.

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Over the ages, composers have found the Virgin Mary to be a source of deep inspiration. The Renaissance Choir experienced some of that mystery in Krakow, Poland in 2010. We sang Arvo Pärt’s Totus Tuus (a hymn to Mary) in a spacious and beautiful chapel in a monastery. The only audience was the monk who was our guide. At the end of this quiet, reflective piece, I thanked him for letting us sing to him. “No,” he said, in tearful wonder, “you sang to us. Mary was here too.”

Whilst we can’t promise a miracle, our programme is about peace, tranquillity and wonder. We include well-known pieces such as Rachmaninov’s Bogoroditse Dyevo along with works by Poulenc and Holst. From the Renaissance, we sing pieces by Byrd, Lassus and Victoria.

Our last Petersfield concert was a sell-out, so we urge our patrons to book tickets as soon as they become available.

Full price tickets: £15, including programme. Under-25s and students pay £2.
Ticketing link. Tickets will also be available from One Tree Books and on the door.

Image: Carlo Maratta – Maria Immaculata, c1685.1688. Bildergalerie Sanssouci, Potsdam (Wikimedia Commons)

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VIDEO: Choir member Katy has been giving us her personal reflections about what people might experience at this event.

Composers and works

O Maria vernans rosa – Jacobus Clemens (non Papa)
Ave Maria – Rihards Dubra
Ave Maria – William Byrd
Salve Regina – Peter Phillips

Little Green – Joni Mitchell
Ave Maria – Gustav Holst
Salve Regina – Francis Poulenc
Ave Maria – Robert Parsons
Alma Redemptoris Mater – Orlando di Lasso

O sanctissima Maria – Paul Mealor
Totus Tuus – Henryk Mikolaj Górecki

Songs Inspired by Mary:
Het Was een Maged Uitverkoren – Dutch devotional song, late Middle Ages
How Wild the Wind Blows – Molly Drake, arr. The Unthanks
Let No Man Steal Your Thyme – English traditional, arr. Lady Maisery
Teardrop – Massive Attack, arr. O’Hooley & Tidow

Virgencita – Arvo Pärt
Bogoroditse Dyevo – Sergei Rachmaninov
Ave regina caelorum – Orlando di Lasso
Ave Maria – Tomás Luis de Victoria