40th series of lunchtime concerts

The St Mary-le-Tower series of lunchtime concerts was started 40 years ago by the then organist, John Cooper (now Organist Emeritus at the church).  The central location was ideal and by holding the concerts at lunchtimes, people who worked in the town centre could attend during their lunch breaks. 

 

The first series attracted small audiences of about 30 people and were purely organ recitals. . The performers were drawn from students at Colchester Institute (John Cooper was a lecturer there).

 

Later the repertoire was expanded to include other types of musicians and music and refreshments were offered to enable people to have their lunch.  Over the 40 years the concerts have expanded from 8 each series to the 25 being held this year. Numbers attending have also expanded considerably. 

 

Organiser, Sarah Jenkins, said “Concertgoers are drawn from all walks of life - members of the congregation, town centre workers, students - and of all ages. The concert programme is varied and this year we have included talks by several well-known composers - Philip Wilby, Diana Burrell and James MacMillan.  St Mary-le-Tower is proud of its choral tradition and Dr Michael Nicholas, our Director of Music works hard to provide a wide-ranging programme to interest as many people as possible.”

Works by Bach, Cooper, Grainger, Haydn and Quilter 

 

Works by Bohm, Bach, Buxtehude and Reger

 

Music by Bach, Elgar and Francis Pott

 

 

Toccata giocosa Mathias, Aria Manz, Litanies Alain and works by Bonnet, Peeters and Rawsthorne

 

Praeambulum in G minor Buxtehude, Second Suite Op 27 Boellmann, Dawn of Redeeming Grace Judith Bingham, Carillon David Bedford et al 

 

Toccata primi toni A Scarltti, Scherzo Lefebure-Wely,Suite Liturgique Bedard et al

 

Duets for keyboard combinations - a fun finale to the 40th season

 

 

St Mary-le-Tower also holds a winter series of concerts which will commence in November (also held on Tuesday lunchtimes) and run up to Christmas - the last concert is normally Christmas music and carols with the Boys and Gentlemen of the church choir.  All details of who will be performing will be available on the choir website (www.ipswich-church-choir.co.uk) in due course.

 

Throughout the year a number of one-off concerts are also held - the next one is on 13 November. It will be Tallis's Spem in Alium, Motet for 40 voices and Gabriel Jackson's Sanctum Est Verum Lumen, Motet for 40 voices and other works performed by the Ipswich Chamber Choir and the Tower Chamber Choir, conducted by Christopher Borrett and Michael Nicholas.

 

The lunches have been an important part of the concerts. The food consists of a variety of filled rolls and there is tea, coffee cold drinks and a choice of biscuits. A visitor can have lunch for a very reasonable £1.50-£2.