Change of soloist through illness for Worthing Symphony Orchestra’s Remembrance Sunday concert

The concert planned for Sunday, November 13 was to have featured Welsh mezzo-soprano Eirlys Myfanwy Davies, but due to illness she has been obliged to cancel.

Music director John Gibbons said “I am delighted that Harriet Williams has been able to step into the solo spot for this concert, particularly with the world premiere of Sheldon Bair’s Homefront 1944 at the centre of our programme, reflecting on the human cost of warfare.”

Sheldon Bair’s Uncle Gene was part of the crew of a Liberator B-24 that was lost on July 11 1944 after setting off from what is now Norwich Airport.

As John explains: “This new work sets to music a letter that American compos er Bair’s grandmother Carrie wrote to her sister Nellie on hearing that Gene’s bomber had gone missing. Homefront 1944 is being performed publicly for the first time anywhere and serves as a poignant reminder of the personal consequences of wartime loss.

“British mezzo-soprano Harriet Williams made her Royal Opera debut in 2004 and has performed with Welsh National Opera, Opera Holland Park, English National Opera, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. In addition to Homefront 1944, Harriet will sing Edward Elgar’s Sea Pictures comprising five songs written by various poets, depicting the scale and power of the sea.

“In a concert full of reflection and remembrance, Eric Coates’ stirring and patriotic Dambusters March opens the second half.

" It was used as the theme for the 1955 Dambusters film and has become synonymous, not just with the film, but also the real Operation Chastise, when 517 Squadron of Bomber command attacked dams in the Ruhr valley with bouncing bombs developed by Barnes Wallis. The raid caused catastrophic flooding which killed over 1,600 civilians with numerous factories and mines being destroyed.

“William Alwyn’s Fifth Symphony has a literary inspiration dedicated to the memory of Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). Each section carries a quotation from Browne’s great elegy of death, which demands music of epic proportions … and this great work by Alwyn most certainly delivers.

“Vaughan Williams’ Third Symphony was completed in 1922 and was inspired by the composer hearing a bugler practising and accidentally playing an interval of a seventh instead of an octave … which ultimately led to the trumpet cadenza in the second movement of this remarkable work.

"The symphony has earned its reputation of being a subtly plaintiff elegy for the dead of the First World War and a meditation on the sounds of peace.”

Worthing Symphony Orchestra is the professional orchestra of West Sussex staging an annual season of eight concerts at the Assembly Hall, Worthing.

The concert starts at 2.45pm and tickets are available online at wtm.uk or phone the box office on 01903 206206.