Come to our autumn concert,

Begin the song!

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A celebration of the pleasures of love, friendship, fairy-tales, pets, sport, banter, sleeping, dancing, drinking and music on the feast day of St Cecilia, patron saint of music. The programme centres on John Blow’s Ode to St Cecilia (1684), with additional music by John Dowland, Philippe Certan, Pierre Passereau, Gerald Finzi, John Bartlett and many others.

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We're reviving a 17th- and 18th-century London tradition of celebrations of St Cecilia. Beginning in 1683, these stated with a church service followed by a procession and a performance of a newly commissioned ode by one of the foremost composers of the day, accompanied by a slap-up banquet.

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Last year we performed the first of these, Henry Purcell's Welcome to All the Pleasures; we're following it up this year with John Blow's rarely performed Begin the Song! from 1684.

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So rarely is this piece performed, in fact, that at first all we could find to sing from was the first edition, published in 1685. Luckily, though, our friends at Istante Collective, who are accompanying us at the concert, found a copy of the only modern edition in the library of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Thank you OAE! Thank you Istante!

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We'll be juxtaposing the Blow ode with music and poetry in celebration of all kinds of pleasure – love, friendship, storytelling, pets, sport, banter, dancing, drinking – as well as music itself.

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We can't stretch to a banquet, but drinks and small plates will be available, and there will be a procession, with singing, before the concert. See you there!

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Heath Street Choir & Istante Collective

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https://buytickets.at/heathstreetarts/1886806

Tickets £10, 15, £20 (£5 concessions)

Small plates, wine and soft drinks

Heath Street Baptist Church
84 Heath Street
Hampstead, London NW3 1DN