A celebration of French composers is set to bring the magic of Paris to Fulham Camerata's autumn concert next month.
The choral group will journey through sounds from late 19th century and early 20th century French composers at its concert on Sunday 17 November.
Featuring Maurice Duruflé's Requiem as its showstopping centrepiece, the musical evening will bring together the 35-strong group of singers from 6.30pm at Holy Cross Church, in Ashington Road, Parsons Green.
French music lovers will be in for a treat, as the concert will also take a tour of some of the best-loved pieces from composers including Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Marcel Dupré.
Tickets priced £18 for general admission, or £15 for students and under 25s are available on the door and online.
New hands on the baton
As the debut concert for Fulham Camerata's new music director, Harry Guthrie, the whole group has been dedicated to rehearsals over the past two months.
Having performed Duruflé's Requiem while studying music at the University of Cambridge, Harry was eager to bring its expressive and dramatic qualities to Fulham Camerata's talented singers.
Harry explains: "I wanted to put together a programme of music that I knew really well to start with but that also had a couple of things that would be new to me.
"I performed Duruflé's Requiem a lot at university as a singer and I knew how many individual vocal lines there are for each voice part.
"Having all of these solo lines for each soprano, alto, tenor and bass section of the choir really has allowed me to get to all of the choir members a bit better and work with them directly."
Written in memory of the composer's father, much of the material in the 1947 piece comes from Gregorian chant and includes full choral voices with mezzo soprano and baritone soloists.
The dramatic Requiem will be followed by pieces continuing the French theme, including two melodic and tranquil a cappella songs, Calme des Nuits and Les Fleurs et les Arbres, from composer Saint-Saëns.
