A young Jewish counter tenor is to sing in Hebrew in a work by Leonard Bernstein to commemorate the centenary of the composer’s birth. Theo Golden, a 19-year-old music student, will sing the counter tenor part in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, at Cadogan Hall with the Thames Philharmonic Choir, regular performers at All Saints Kingston. Bernstein wanted the part to be heard as if sung by the young shepherd-psalmist David, and in Hebrew to capture the language’s melodies, rhythm and mood.
The Chichester Psalms combine English choral tradition – and what Bernstein described as “old-fashioned sweetness” – spiced with Middle Eastern percussion and tonality, and a distinct injection of contemporary jazz and vitality, recalling the composer’s musical West Side Story.
Complementing the theme of remembrance is the achingly beautiful Adagio for Strings by Bernstein’s fellow American and contemporary Samuel Barber, and Mozart’s Requiem, which the composer was writing on his death-bed.
The other soloists are: Katherine Crompton (soprano), Adam Tunnicliffe (Tenor), Edward Grint (Bass) - all popular with Thames Philharmonic audiences. They will be accompanied by the Thames Festival Orchestra, Leader Nandor Szederkényi, a Hungarian who was formerly concert master for a leading Japanese orchestra, and for Sarajevo Philharmonic; he has recently moved to London.