Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to write new work for King Charles III, as coronation music announced

18 February 2023, 22:30 | Updated: 20 February 2023, 12:03

Music at His Majesty the King’s coronation at Westminster Abbey. Picture: Getty

By Kyle Macdonald

 

Twelve new works will form the musical centrepiece of King Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey, casting a spotlight on leading British composers and performers.

Buckingham Palace has revealed the music at His Majesty the King’s coronation will include a new Coronation Anthem by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and eleven other pieces personally commissioned by King Charles.

Lloyd Webber said he hopes his new anthem, which is scored for the Westminster Abbey choir and organ, and the ceremonial brass and orchestra, “reflects this joyful occasion”.

The new works for the service at London’s Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May 2022 are each by world-renowned British composers. They will be performed by leading classical artists of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Westminster Abbey’s recently appointed organist and master of the choristers, Andrew Nethsingha, will direct the music of the service and oversee all musical arrangements.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and King Charles III. Picture: Getty

Joining Lloyd Webber in composing music for the historic occasion are Master of the King’s Music, Judith Weir, Sarah Class, Nigel Hess, Paul Mealor, Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik, Shirley J. Thompson, Roderick Williams, and Classic FM’s Composer in Residence, Debbie Wiseman.

Wiseman said it was “an immense honour” to have been asked to compose music for the coronation.

“Bringing together composers, musicians and singers from every corner of our richly varied and colourful musical culture, this momentous ceremony marries the new and diverse with the established, well-loved and traditional,” she added. 

There will also be a new commission for solo organ, weaving together musical themes from countries across the Commonwealth by British organist and composer Iain Farrington.

‘God Save the King’, sung by soprano Alexandra Stevenson

Performances in the service will be led by some of the finest operatic voices of our time, with Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, South African soprano Pretty Yende and British baritone Roderick Williams all named as soloists.

A special coronation orchestra will be conducted by Royal Opera House conductor Sir Antonio Pappano.

The official Royal Harpist Alis Huws will perform as part of the orchestra, in recognition of The King’s long-standing affection for Wales and the country’s musical traditions.

His Royal Highness and Sir Antonio Pappano at the Royal College of Music in 2020. Picture: Getty

Before the service, Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque soloists in a pre-service programme of choral music.

This programme is expected to feature the music of William Byrd, George Frideric Handel, Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry and Sir Karl Jenkins.

The service will be sung by The Choir of Westminster Abbey and The Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, together with girl choristers from the Chapel Choir of Methodist College, Belfast and Truro Cathedral Choir.

The Ascension Choir will sing gospel music as part of the service, which will also feature Greek Orthodox music from the Byzantine Chant Ensemble in tribute to his late father, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Fanfares will be played by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry and the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Royal Air Force, and the King’s Scholars of Westminster School will proclaim the traditional ‘Vivat’ acclamations.

Berlin Phil announces first ever female concertmaster in 141-year history, Vineta Sareika-Völkner

Vineta Sareika-Völkner is the Berlin Phil’s first ever female concertmaster. Picture: Berlin Philharmonic / Alamy

By Sophia Alexandra Hall

@sophiassocials

 

The legendary German orchestra, often considered the best in the world, has announced its newest concertmaster, who for the first time is a woman. 

Latvian violinist, Vineta Sareika-Völkner, has today been announced as the new concertmaster of the acclaimed Berlin Philharmonic.

Sareika-Völkner is the first woman to have ever held the position of concertmaster in the prestigious orchestra, and she takes on the role after joining the orchestra just 10 months ago in April 2022.

In a statement released by the orchestra this afternoon, the Berlin Phil writes that Sareika-Völkner “comes from an art-loving family” and began playing the violin at the age of just five years old.

The violinist has an impressive background, having completed her training at the Paris Conservatoire National with Gérard Poulet, and at the Belgian Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Augustin Dumay.

Since graduating, she has performed as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Lisbon Philharmonic, Latvian National Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra.

From 2012 to 2021, Sareika-Völkner was the first violinist in the award winning Artemis Quartet. She plays on a 1683 Antonio Stradivari violin, on loan to the musician from the Ruggieri Foundation.

Despite forming in 1882, the Berlin Phil only began accepting women musicians a century later, with the hire of violinist, Madeleine Carruzzo in 1982. 

Now 41 years later, Sareika-Völkner takes on the concertmaster position, just months after the Golden Globe winner for Best Film Tár – a film which depicted a woman in the first chair position of the orchestra – was released.

This is not Sareika-Völkner first concertmaster position; from 2011 to 2013 she was the principal concertmaster of the industry leading Royal Flemish Philharmonic under the direction of Edo de Waart and Philippe Herreweghe. Over the past few years she has also taken up a number of guest concertmaster roles at the Brussels Royal Opera Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic.

Sareika-Völkner’s appointment is a historic moment for the great German orchestra, and we wish them all a harmonious new chapter of incredible music making.

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Born Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman

11 December 1960 (age 62)

Haslemere, Surrey, England

Education Worcester College, Oxford

Occupation Composer

Spouse Uberto Pasolini (m.1995–2006)

Children 3

Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman,OBE (born 11 December 1960) is an English composer who is best known for scoring films.

Early life and education

Portman was born in Haslemere in Surrey, England, the daughter of Sheila Margaret Penelope (née Mowat) Portman and Berkeley Charles Berkeley Portman. She was educated at Charterhouse and became interested in music from a young age, beginning composing at the age of 14.

After finishing school, Portman studied Music at Worcester College, Oxford. It was here that her interest in composing music for films began as she started experimenting with writing music for student films and theatre productions.

Career

Portman's career in music began with writing music for drama in BBC and Channel 4 films such as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Mike Leigh's Four Days in July and Jim Henson's Storyteller series.

Since then, Portman has written over 100 scores for film, television and theatre.

Her other works include a children's opera, The Little Prince (which was later adapted for television) and Little House on the Prairie, a musical based upon the Laura Ingalls Wilder books Little House on the Prairie (2008). Portman was commissioned to write a piece of choral music for the BBC Proms series in August 2007 called The Water Diviner's Tale.

Awards and honours

Portman's first award was received as the result of scoring "a large body of work" for The Storyteller, for which she received the Anthony Asquith Award from the British Film Institute.

Later, Portman became the first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Musical or Comedy Score (for Emma in 1996). Portman was also nominated for Academy Awards for her scores for The Cider House Rules in 1999 and Chocolat in 2000.

On 19 May 2010, she was given the Richard Kirk Award at the BMI Film & TV Awards for her contributions to film and television music. Portman is the first woman to receive the honour.

Portman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.

In 2015, Portman received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special for her work on Bessie. 2022 she was honoured with the Career Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Personal life

Portman married producer Uberto Pasolini in 1995, but the couple divorced in 2006; they have three children.

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