The Music of Robert Parsons with Bill Carslake on March 25th 2023

BOOKING IS NOW CLOSED AS THE MUSIC HAS BEEN PRINTED.

The composer Robert Parsons

Parsons, you who were so great in the springtime of life, how great you would have been in the autumn, had death not come. This Latin epitaph by the copyist, Robert Dow, is from a collection of partbooks produced in the 1580s, a decade or so after Parsons’ death. Robert Parsons (c. 1535-1572) is remembered today as a masterful life cut short when he drowned in the Trent. His music provides a remarkable link between the opulence of late 15th century composers such as those in the Eton Choirbook (e.g., Cornysh, Browne) and the emotional precision of artists like Shakespeare and Tomkins (who was born in the year Parsons died). It’s as if Parsons channelled his grandparents and grandchildren all at once. We will be singing the following pieces: O bone Jesu sings the soaring lines of Roman Catholic England before Henry VIII’s birth; Retribue is a detailed discussion of faith from the fraught period after Henry’s death; and Ave Maria is so pure and timeless that it is almost an icon for the ear.

The Tutor, William Carslake, studied orchestral conducting with Martyn Brabbins, Jorma Panula and Ilya Musin, and singing with David Lowe and Peter Alexander Wilson. He was a busy bass-baritone soloist before he decided to focus exclusively on conducting and composing. He has since held two composing residencies at Banff Centre, Canada. He composes music inspired by outdoor places such as Greenland, the Cairngorms and, currently, peatlands in Ireland. He has composed for the Finzi Trust and Imperial College Sinfonietta, and is currently writing for Orchestra of the Swan. He is Artistic Director of Farnborough Symphony Orchestra and co-directs the Farnborough Young Composers’ Competition. He was Music Director for the Royal Ballet’s Elizabeth in 2016 and 2018. He enjoys directing programmes for EMF forums and Lacock Courses.

The Venue   The Coton Centre is on the A315 Comberford Rd on the north edge of Tamworth. The post code B79 9AA will take you to Rawlett school but if approaching from the north on the A513 it is on the left before the school and from any other direction is the next turning after the school. There is ample free parking on site.

Please let the organiser know if you are travelling by train and require picking up from the station which is 1 1/2 miles from the venue.