Jersey Chamber Choir, now well known for its spectacular, highly musical and deeply moving performances will close their third season of concerts with a celebration of 20th century composers.

The central theme of the concert will be one of creation, joy and love. Aaron Copland’s In the beginning is scored for chorus and mezzo-soprano. The complex but extraordinarily effective work will be starring local singer Simone Garton as the soloist. The text uses the beautifully poetic language from the King James Bible to narrate the seven days of creation.

Benjamin Britten is usually hailed as the most important British composer of the twentieth century, and he belongs on every list of the most important choral composers in all of history. The joy, brightness, and varied content of the large-scale Spring Symphony exist in microcosm in the Five Flower Songs, composed in the spring of 1950. Dartington Hall in rural Devon was the inspiration for these five poems each depicting different flowers.

The most familiar piece on the programme will be a choral arrangement of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. Arranged by the composer for an a capella chorus it loses nothing in the transference from bow to breath, perhaps becoming even more transcendent as the voices sour upwards, cry for mercy and murmur pleas that never fully resolve but eventually come to rest in peace.

Sir James MacMillan CBE is one of today’s most successful composers and his musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, faith, and close connection with folk music, and is distinctive for its rhythmic excitement and powerful emotional communication. His striking setting of Cecilia Virgo was commissioned by the University of London for their annual St Cecilia’s Day concert in 2012, and is a joyful and celebratory fanfare in honour of the patron Saint of music.

Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor, Eric Whitacre is among today’s most popular musicians. A graduate of The Juilliard School, his works are performed worldwide, and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united well over 100,000 singers from more than 145 countries. His Songs of faith are settings of poems by e.e.cummings, celebrating creation, joy and love.