11 Sep 2018
On Tuesday 11 September, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and members of the Monteverdi Choir had the honour of taking part in the Peter Hall Memorial, a service marking a year since the passing of the celebrated theatre director. As part of the service, Gardiner conducted the Choir in a performance of the cantata ‘Es Ist Nun Aus Mit Meinem Leben’ by J.C. Bach.
John Eliot Gardiner and Peter Hall were personal friends although they never worked together. Peter was present at the Monteverdi Choir’s live recording of ‘Es Ist Nun Aus Mit Meinem Leben’ at Cadogan Hall in 2009, and took great pleasure from the piece.
‘The voices of the Monteverdi Choir seemed to float from the heavens as they sang Bach.’
The Guardian - Michael Billington
The order of Service was as follows:
Reading - Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra, Act V by Dame Judi Dench
‘Introitus’ and ‘Kyrie’ from Mozart’s Requiem sung by Lucy Crowe
Hymn - ‘Monk’s Gate’ 372 NEH by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Bidding - Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster
Tribute - Sir David Hare
‘Serenade’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni sung by Sir Thomas Allen
Reading - Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 by Gregory Doran
‘The Cloud-Clapp’d Towers’ from Three Shakespeare Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Reading - 1 Corinthians 13 by Vanessa Redgrave
Address by Sir Trevor Nunn
Hymn - ‘Jerusalem’ 488 NEH by Hubert Parry
Reading - Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus Act I, Scene V by David Suchet
Prayers - read by Christopher Hall, Jenny Hall, Edward Hall, Lucy Edwards, Rebecca Hall, Emma Hall and David Stanton
‘Es Ist Nun Aus Mit Meinem Leben’ - cantata by J.C. Bach sung by the Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
Blessing - Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster
Final Scene from Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed by Sir Ian Holm, Lucy Crowe and Tim Mead
‘Wir Danken dir, Gott, wir Danken dir’, Sinfonia to Cantata 29 by J.S. Bach
