Karl Jenkins was born in 1944 and studied music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music. He made his first impact in the fields of jazz and advertising jingles. His breakthrough into the concert hall came with Adiemus, Songs of Sanctuary, a choral work which topped both classical and pop charts and features sounds which are as familiar in the pop as in the classical world, if not more so.  Jenkins certainly has very considerable communicative skills and these led to the The Armed Man, commissioned by the Royal Armouries for the Millennium. It has had more than 100 performances since its appearance. Taking as his starting point the 15th century French popular song l'Homme Armé, Jenkins sets a wide variety of authors ranging from the Bible, through Kipling, Dryden and Sir Thomas Malory to Tennyson.

A new departure for the Phil will be the addition of a visual interpretation of the words and music.

The composer, Anthony Powers was born in London in 1953. He studied at Oxford, in Paris and at York, and now holds the Chair of Composition at Cardiff University.

Zlata's Diary is adapted from a diary written by Zlata Filipovic, a child in Sarajevo during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s. An only child in a comfortable, prosperous family, she records the gradual disintegration of her community and of a civilised society, and her eventual realisation that life will never be the same again.

Notes by Graham Saunders and Joan Harborne 2005.

We are always keen to recruit new members. If you would like to be part of our concerts, there are also rehearsal and membership details, and information on the special place that patrons hold in our Society.

Our conductor for the evening was Michael Brewer, very welcome after a long absence from Grimsby. 

Karl Jenkins, Anthony Powers and Geoffrey Burgon

Our conductor and composers for October 2005

A special occasion brought us three contemporary composers in one evening, all with a melodic voice not usually associated with the word “contemporary”.