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| Contemporary Music |
FifteenB was formed by composer Robert Hugill in 1994 in order to promote concerts of accessible contemporary music.
Based in London, around a chamber choir, the group has promoted regular concerts which mix Robert's music with other contemporary music.
The choir's first concert was in 1994 at the Chapel of the House of St. Barnabas in Soho, when Robert's cantata Vocibus Mulierum - Women's Voices was given its premiere.
In 1998 FifteenB received a grant from the National Lottery, through the Arts Council for England, to allow them to give the premiere of Robert's cantata
The Young Man and Death with the Salomon Wind Octet. In June 2000 the choir gave the first performance of Robert's Requiem Mass at the Chelsea Festival.
They were invited back to the Chelsea Festival in June 2002 when they gave a programme jointly with Philharmonia Brass.
They returned again in 2004 to give a programme of sacred music which included the premieres of 6 motets by Robert Hugill
alongside music by Byrd, Mozart, Elgar, Saint-Saens and Paul Ayres.
In 2001 FifteenB presented staged performances of Robert's opera Garrett at Hoxton Hall. Staged by Darren Royston the production starred Damian Thantrey and Rosemary Forbes-Butler. The production was well received by opera magazine,
click here for reviews, photographs and a complete libretto of the opera.
On Friday 1st July 2005 we celebrated Robert Hugill's 50th Birthday with a concert at St. Giles Cripplegate, Barbican.
Instead of our regular choir we used a new group of professional choral singers, the eight:fifteen vocal ensemble.
They gave the premiere of Robert's cantata The Testament of Dr. Cranmer as part of a concert themed on Cranmer's life and martyrdom.
Along with cellist Jonathan Cottle, they performed Robert's Collect for choir and cello. We repeated this concert on Saturday 18th March 2006
at the University Church, Oxford as part of the commemorations for the 450th anniversary of Cranmer's execution. Further details here.
Paul Brough and the eight:fifteen vocal ensemble have now recorded The Testament of Dr. Cranmer and the disc is available from the Divine Art record label, here.
We are celebrating the release of the CD with two concerts at St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, London. On Saturday 26th January 2008,
Paul Brough and the eight:fifteen vocal ensemble will be performing a celebratory concert with music by Mundy, Tallis, and Hugill including the premiere
of Robert Hugill's Evening Service, there will also be organ music from Paul Ayres. The concert will be followed by a celebratory glass of wine.
Then on Saturday February 23rd our voluntary choir, FifteenB, will perform a programme of music by Haydn and Hugill. They will be repeating
Robert Hugill's Rabindranath Tagore settings, Crossing, which they premiered at the 2006 Chelsea Festival. They will also be celebrating the 10th anniversary
of the premiere of Robert's Passion by performing a new version of the Choruses from Passion.
Concerts promoted by FifteenB
Forthcoming concert - January 26th 2008, St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, London
the eight:fifteen vocal ensemble, Paul Brough (conductor), Paul Ayres (organ)
William Mundy: Vox Patris Coelestis, Thomas Tallis: If ye Love me
Hugill: Evening Service (world premiere); Faith Hope and Charity; Pater Noster (from the Testament of Dr. Cranmer), Lucis Creator Optime
Concert Diary listing
Book Online
Forthcoming concert - February 23rd 2008, St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, London
FifteenB (choir), Paul Ayres (conductor), Malcolm Cottle (organ)
Haydn: Little Organ Mass
Hugill: Crossing; Choruses from Passion
Concert-Diary listing
Book Online
March 2007
- FifteenB Consort, (Alison Cross, Robert Hugill, John McLeod, Sally Prime, Patricia Scott King, Rowena Wells),
- Paul Ayres (organ)
- This is the Record of John: Orlando Gibbons and the Verse Anthem
- Robert Hugill: My eyes are ever lifted
- Music by Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Weekles, Pelham Humfrey and John Ward
June 2006
- FifteenB (choir), Paul Ayres (conductor), Malcolm Cottle (organ)
- Music by Byrd, Liszt, Faure, Saint-Saens, Gavin Bryars
- Robert Hugill: Nunc Dimittis, Salve Regina, Salve Sancta Parens, Crossing
- at the Chelsea Festival
March 2006
- The Salomon Orchestra, conductor Adrian Brown, David Greiner (baritone)
- Robert's works: In the Barbarian's Camp, Elegy for Baritone and Orchestra
- Elgar Serenade for Strings, Haydn Military Symphony
- St. James's Church, Piccadilly
March 2006
- The eight:fifteen vocal ensemble, conductor Paul Brough, Jonathan Cottle (cello)
- Robert's cantata,The Testament of Dr. Cranmer, plus motets from Tempus per Annum and Collect for Choir and Cello
- Alongside music from Cranmer's time by Sheppard, Munday, Tallis and Tye
- At University Church, Oxford as part of the commemoration 450th Anniversary of Cranmer's execution.
July 2005
- The eight:fifteen vocal ensemble, conductor Malcolm Cottle, Jonathan Cottle (cello)
- Robert's cantata,The Testament of Dr. Cranmer, plus motets from Tempus per Annum and Collect for Choir and Cello
- Alongside music from Cranmer's time by Sheppard, Munday, Tallis and Tye
- At St Giles Cripplegate, Barbican London.
March/May2005
- The FifteenB Consort (Alison Cross, Robert Hugill, John McLeod, Sally Prime, Rowena Wells)
- A Tre, French and English Sacred Music for 3 voices
- including Robert Hugill's Missa Simplex and Salve Regina
- At St. Matthew's Church, Westminster and St. Peter's College Chapel, Oxford, click here for further details.
also at St. Pancras Parish Church as part of the London Festival of Conctemporary Church Music.
June 2004
- FifteenB (choir), Paul Ayres (conductor), Malcolm Cottle (organ)
- Ave Verum: Motets by Byrd, Mozart, Faure, Saint-Saens, Paul Ayres and the premieres of 6 motets by Robert Hugill
- at the Chelsea Festival Click here
September 2003
- The Salomon Orchestra, Malcolm Cottle (conductor)
- Robert Hugill Jacob and the Angel, Postcards from the Fitties, a short prelude, toccata and a kind of fugue
- plus music by Percy Grainger and Haydn at the Tabernacle Arts Centre, Notting Hill
April 2003
- The FifteenB Consort (Katie Boot, Robert Hugill, John McLeod, Rowena Wells)
- A Solemn Mass for Lent: a sequence of 16th and 21st century sacred music
- including motets by Rihards Dubra and Robert Hugill
- at St. Matthew's Church, Westminster and All Saints Church, Tudeley, Kent. Click Here
June 2002
- FifteenB (choir), Philharmonia Brass, Paul Ayres (conductor)
- Robert Hugill The Barbarian at the Gate, fanfares by Robert Hugill and Paul Ayres, motets and brass music by Gabrieli and Schutz, at Chelsea Festival.
November 2001
- Recital by David Greiner (counter tenor), Paul Webster (piano)
- Robert Hugill Quickening, songs by Schumann and Robert Kahn, at Burgh House Hampstead.
June 2001
- Damian Thantrey (baritone), Rosemary Forbes-Butler (soprano), Malcom Cottle (conductor), Darren Royston (stage director)
- Robert Hugill Garrett, an opera in one act, at Hoxton Hall.
June 2000
- FifteenB (choir), Paul Ayres (conductor), Carl Jackson (organ)
- Robert Hugill Requiem Mass, early English organ music, at Chelsea Festival.
June 1999
- FifteenB (choir), Camerata Dorothea, Paul Ayres (conductor)
- Robert Hugill Jacob and the Angel, music by Paul Ayres, Percy Grainger, Elgar, Barber and Palestring, at St. Cyprians Church
March 1999
- The Burgundian Cadence
- Robert Hugill Passion, UK tour, venues include Westminster Abbey, Southwark Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral.
November 1998
- Recital by Rupert Damerell (counter tenor), Rowena Well (soprano), Paul Ayres (organ)
- Robert Hugill Four Solo Motets, music by Robert Hugill, Anthony Pitts, Joanna Bird, Paul Ayres, Henry Purcell, William Bird
April 1998
- FifteenB (choir), Salomon Wind Octet, Paul Ayres (conductor)
- Robert Hugill The Young Man and Death, music by Mozart, at St. Mary's Church, Chelsea
December 1997
- Mass for World Aids Day, FifteenB (choir), Malcolm Cottle (conductor)
- Robert Hugill Missa Veni Sancte Spiritu, at Corpus Christ, Covent Garden, for Catholic Stage Guild
July 1997
- Recital by Gretchen Minerva Cummings (mezzo-soprano), Paul Webster (piano)
- Robert Hugill Songs of Love and Loss, music by Robert Hugill, Bax, Vaughan Williams
April 1997
- Recital by Rupert Damerell (counter tenor), Andrew Keeping (guitar), FifteenB Consort
- Robert Hugill Let this Harvest Pass, O Lord, music by Robert Hugill, Britten, Dowland
March 1996
- FifteenB (choir), David Greiner (counter tenor), Paul Webster (piano/conductor)
- Robert Hugill Vocibus Mulierum, Robert Hugill Songs of Love and Loss, at St. Cyprian's Church
July 1995
- Recital by Felicity Ford, Rosemary Zolynski (sopranos), Margaret Jackson-Robert (contralto), Yvonne Brain (piano)
- Robert Hugill Songs of Love and Loss, songs by Robert Hugill and Tony Noakes.
November 1994
- FifteenB (choir), Paul Webster (conductor): Robert Hugill Vocibus Mulierum - Women's Voices
- Robert Hugill Missa Carmen Deo Nostro, at the Chapel at the House of St. Barnabas, Soho.