Spring Concert – East Oxford Community Choir
Maki Sekiya, piano
Soloists Hannah Fraser-Mackenzie, Zihua Zhang, Tom West
East Oxford Community Choir and Orchestra
Dexter Drown, conductor
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2
Rachmaninov Spring Cantata
Franck Sept Paroles du Christ sur la Croix
East Oxford Community Choir and Orchestra, and conductor Dexter Drown, are joined by renowned pianist Maki Sekiya to celebrate the music of Rachmaninov 150 years on from his birth.
The beautiful melodies of the much-loved Piano Concerto No. 2, showcasing Maki Sekiya’s breath-taking virtuosity, are followed by a one-movement cantata, ‘Spring’, for baritone solo (Tom West), chorus and orchestra. Composed just after his 2nd Piano Concerto, this dramatic piece tells of the triumph of Spring over Winter: a jealous husband abandons his intention to murder his wife, when Spring urges love, tolerance and forgiveness.
As this concert is also close to Passiontide and Easter, the evening ends with a performance of César Franck’s poignant ‘The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross’.