The Encore Chichester Community Orchestra (ECCO), which runs from the University of Chichester, joins the OK Chorale choir and local actors this month for a special concert raising funds for Children’s BookFest.
Entitled All For Your Delight, a line from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the concert takes place at 2pm on Saturday, 24 October, at the Church of St Mary and St Blaise, Boxgrove Priory, Chichester.
It will be introduced and compered by international best-selling author Kate Mosse CBE, President of Children’s BookFest.
The programme features music orchestrated by local composer John Gleadall, with ECCO and OK Chorale joined by actors from New Theatre Productions. The highlight is the premiere of Gleadall’s orchestration of Pyramus and Thisbe, the comic play performed by the Mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, newly set to music and arranged for the occasion.
The concert will also include Gleadall’s orchestration of The Highwayman, based on Alfred Noyes’ celebrated poem, performed with the permission of Noyes’ granddaughter. Noyes’ daughter was a long-time Boxgrove resident until her death in 2022. Robert Smith’s Into the Storm and Sibelius’ Finlandia complete the programme.
ECCO, led by Professor Laura Ritchie of the University of Chichester, was founded in 2016 and brings musicians from across the community together without auditions or judgement. It has more than 80 registered members, with weekly attendance approaching 40, and a full range of symphonic instruments including cor anglais, bass clarinet and contra bassoon. Proceeds from the group support Professor Ritchie’s research and her work with University students.
Kate Mosse said: “This will be a wonderful, one-off celebration of music and theatre in the beautiful setting of Boxgrove Priory. I’m delighted that the concert is also raising funds for Children’s BookFest, an organisation that does such important work in encouraging children to discover the joy of books, reading and storytelling. I am honoured to be the charity’s new President.”
Funds raised will support Children’s BookFest’s work with children across the local area, bringing leading authors and illustrators into schools and communities and giving children brand-new books to take home and keep.
Tickets are available from £10 per person at ticketsource.com/childrens-book-fest-chichester.