Sat 13th June 2009, 19:30, King's College Chapel
Cambridge University Musical Society
CUMS 1 and CHORUS

BEETHOVEN - SYMPHONY No. 9
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES - "The Sorcerer's Mirror"
World Premiere commissioned by CUMS in celebration of the University of Cambridge's 800th anniversary.

Libretto by Andrew Motion

Free pre-concert talk in Keynes Hall at 6.30pm by Robert Culshaw

Lynne Dawson soprano'
Madeleine Shaw mezzo'
Robin Leggate tenor'
Gerald Finley bass,
Stephen Cleobury conductor

Tickets: £30/£25/£20 with £4 off for CUMS members and a further £4 off for students. £5 student standbys on the door.

From: The Cambridge Corn Exchange (01223 357 851)

http://www.cums.org.uk

In celebration of Cambridge's 800th anniversary, the University Musical Society continues a long tradition of commissioning new music for great occasions which was originally initiated during Sir Charles Villiers Stanford's conductorship in the late nineteenth century. The Society has commissioned Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen's Music, to write a new piece for symphony orchestra and chorus which will be premiered at the CUMS May Week Concert in King's College Chapel on 13 June 2009. The text for this new work will be written by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. The work will be performed alongside Beethoven's Symphony No.9.

CUMS has a distinguished history of working with composers. Many of the great composers of the late nineteenth century - including Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Bruch and Grieg - conducted its orchestra and chorus. The Society enjoyed a very close relationship with Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears, performing most years at the Aldeburgh festival during the 1960s and early 1970s. Ralph Vaughan Williams was a member, and The Society has premiered works by Rutter, Holloway and Saxton in recent years as well as premiering at least one new undergraduate composition each year.