Penwortham choir to celebrate influential composers with concert in Ashton

A Penwortham-based choir is set to celebrate the lives of two influential composers with a special performance.

The Rawstorne Singers’ Choral Celebration will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edward Bairstow, and the 100th anniversary of the death of Sir Charles V Stanford.

Choir member Alison King said: “It’s a lovely concert, featuring the well-known and beautiful O for the Wings of a Dove by Mendelssohn and other choral favourites by composers including Stanford and Bairstow.

“Two other items are recently composed works by female composers, a refreshing departure from historically gender-biased concert programmes. We are proud to be singing Becky McGlade’s Missa Brevis and Gail Randall’s The Call.”

The Rawstorne Singers are an amateur choir with members from Chorley, Leyland, Preston and other parts of Lancashire. They meet at St Leonard’s Church in Penwortham on Wednesday evenings.

The choir’s new musical director is Marc Murray, a well-known choral trainer and organist who is also the director of Preston Cecilian Choral Society and Southport Bach Choir.

A Choral Celebration by The Rawstorne Singers will take place at 4pm on Sunday 19 May at St Michael and All Angels Church in Ashton-on-Ribble.

Tickets are £10 and accompanied children go free of charge. Refreshments will be available at the end of the concert.

For further information and advance booking, visit the Rawstorne Singers website.

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