The Ulster Consort: Premiere of Wilby Requiem

The Ulster Consort is delighted to return to the Portico of Ards for a beautiful programme of Mozart – featuring a chamber performance of his exquisite Concerto for Flute and Harp – and the world premiere of a work by Philip Wilby, one of the UK’s leading composers and former Professor of Composition at the University of Leeds. Wilby’s Spring Requiem weaves Ulster Scots texts – from Carmina Gadelica, collected by Alexander Carmichael – into the traditional Latin Requiem mass, in a setting full of rebirth and vigour. This will be its first performance – a major musical event on the island of Ireland.

The Ulster Consort made its debut with a stellar, critically acclaimed performance of Handel’s Messiah in December 2019. The large core of the group's performers consists of Northern Irish singers, and singers based in Northern Ireland.

Energies are focused on concert performances of the finest works of the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods – working with period instruments and in an historically informed manner – through to the glorious smaller-scaled works of the Romantic era, the 20th century, and the present day.

Programme:

Spring into summer

MOZART AND A WORLD PREMIERE

Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 (chamber version)

30’

Philip Wilby Spring Requiem (world premiere) 40’