Faure Requiem 11 November
Meet the musicians
We're delighted to be accompanied by a quintet of accomplished jazz musicians for our performance of this special jazz version of Fauré's Requiem, including the arranger himself Charles Beale who will play piano on the night. Book now to secure a ticket at our early bird rate.
Charles Beale is an internationally acclaimed choral director, arranger, jazz educator, author and coach, known for his visionary leadership and pioneering work in activist choral singing and music education. He was a jazz piano professor at the Royal College of Music for seven years.
A London-based musician, bass player, producer and audio visual creative, Gareth Huw Davies will join us on double bass. Over roughly thirty years as a professional musician, Gareth has worked on countless recordings, broadcasts, concerts, gigs, theatre shows and big band outings, including with the Will Todd Trio.
Simon Lea is a British session, touring drummer and percussionist. He is a versatile musician covering a wide range of genres including funk & soul, pop, rock, hip hop and jazz. From 2006, he was house drummer at Ronnie Scott's.
Graeme Flowers, on trumpet and flugelhorn, has performed live with artists such as Quincy Jones, Taylor Swift, Paul Weller, Michael Buble and Jamie Cullum. He has also performed on, and written music for three Clint Eastwood movie soundtracks.
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Finally, we are delighted to welcome Leo Richardson on saxophones. Leo has been making a name for himself on the London Jazz scene, being nominated in the London Music Awards for Rising Star in the Jazz category. He regularly hosts the Late Late Show at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with his own quartet.
Left to right: Charles Beale, Gareth Huw Davies, Simon Lea, Graeme Flowers and Leo Richardson
We cannot wait to perform with such a talented group of musicians and hope you will join us for what promises to be an unforgettable evening. The last word goes to Charles Beale, who explains his inspiration for the piece:
"Jazz and classical music overlap in so many ways. This version of the Fauré Requiem grew from an intuition thatFauré’s harmony - French, late Romantic, understated - was similar in many ways to that of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.
"What followed was in some ways a bonkers but in others totally appropriate re-imagining: to keep the vocal parts of the Fauré Requiem exactly as is, but to replace the existing instrumental parts, which are conventionally piano, organ or small orchestra, with a jazz quintet.
"So my intention here was to leave Fauré’s much loved piece entirely unchanged, but also to refresh it, by adding improvising jazz musicians, who could celebrate and comment on Fauré’s music as the choir sings."
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