Classical Preview: Choral society prepares for War Requiem

You don’t just perform Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, you grow to that point where it becomes inevitable... conductor, John Dunford, feels that moment has arrived for the Ripon Choral Society. “It is far and away the most ambitious project in the choir’s history, and certainly the largest financial undertaking they have ever contemplated,” he says between the rehearsals. “Before I arrived here 14 years ago much of the work in building its size from a small local choir had been completed, but it still had to face the challenge of such works as Verdi’s Requiem and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.

“It could well be that Britten wrote the last large-scale British choral work, its size making the opportunity to hear it increasingly less frequent. We will field a choir of about 150, the largest we have yet achieved, to which we add the children’s choir from St Mary’s School at Baldersby.

“Our usual professional Orchestra d’Amici, made up of leading professionals, is extended to around 57, plus a separate chamber group of 12 used with the two male soloists.” In the expanse of the cathedral communicating with 250 performers will be no easy task, but practicalities have meant dispensing with the use of a second conductor for the chamber orchestra sections.

The tenor, Philip Sheffield, arrives with a rave review of his appearance in the work with the Berlin Philharmonic; the baritone, Peter Savidge, is a familiar face with Opera North, and the solo trio is completed by the dramatic soprano, Helena Dix.

Ripon Choral Society, Ripon Cathedral, April 2, 7.30pm. 01765 63524.