Singers return from Italian tour

11:15am Thursday 2nd November 2006

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SALISBURY chamber choir, The Farrant Singers, has recently returned from a successful tour in Tuscany, performing a programme of English unaccompanied music.

In the cathedral in Montepulciano, the choir sang Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, and Vaughan Williams' Mass in G in the Abbazia di Sant'Antimo, near Montalcino.

Also in Montepulciano, in the church of San Biagio, sacred music by Byrd, Gibbons, Tallis, Harris, Stanford, Holst and Britten was performed, as well as another programme of English church music in the church of the Santissima Annunziata in Siena.

Music lovers of every nationality came to listen and during rehearsals, which took place in the cloisters of the hotel in Pienza where the choir stayed, visitors to Tuscany ventured off the street to listen.

Plans are currently underway for the Farrant Singers' 50th anniversary in 2008, when the choir plans several concerts, to include specially commissioned music by past conductors and associated composers.

The choir will also sing services in Salisbury Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.

• Closer to home, you can catch the Farrant Singers at the lecture theatre, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum on Friday, December 15 at 6pm. Tickets are available from the museum in The Close.