Owain Park Recording

Additional information

Click the links below to read more about the work and performers on this first recording of Owain Park's Officium Lusorum - 'Mass of the Gamblers''.

Most of the text on this page is taken from the programme for the world premiere concert performance on 22nd October 2022, however the choir members listed are those who took part in the recording rather than the concert.

The CDs are available to purchase at our concerts, or via a member.
 

PROGRAMME NOTE TEXT & TRANSLATION Owain Park CHOIR MEMBERS PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE OF LONDON JONATHAN WILLCOCKS PHILIP SCRIVEN SUE GRAHAM SMITH GARETH BRYNMOR JOHN JOSEPHINE GODDARD
 

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Programme Note - by Jonathan Willcocks

Carl Orff’s choral work Carmina Burana is a notoriously difficult work to partner with other music to create a concert programme, being both profanely secular and requiring as accompaniment either an enormous orchestra or – as in tonight’s concert – by arguably the even more effective instrumental line-up of two pianos, timpani and a multitude of percussion. In commissioning the young award-winning composer Owain Park to write a partner-piece, with the generous financial support of their ‘Friends’, Guildford Choral Society sought both to solve the immediate problem of planning this concert but also to provide an exciting new work to live alongside Orff’s enduring masterpiece and for other choirs and audiences to enjoy.

In planning the new piece, the composer chose to delve into the same Carmina Burana treasure-trove of medieval poetry, combining these tales of excess by the ‘clerici vagantes’ (wandering clerics) with excerpts from the liturgy of the Mass. Whereas Orff’s choice of text focuses on the pleasures of wine, women and nature, Officium Lusorum (as the sub-title Mass of the Gamblers indicates) focuses primarily on the pleasures and perils of gambling with Decius (the God of dice) to the fore. In addition to the accompanying instrumental forces, the work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists and mixed-voice chorus.

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Text & Translation

 
Click here to view /download

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Owain Park (born 1993) - composer

Owain Park was born in Bristol, UK in 1993. His compositions are published by Novello and have been performed internationally by ensembles including the Tallis Scholars and the Aurora Orchestra.

As a conductor, he maintains a busy schedule of projects with ensembles including the BBC Singers, the Academy of Ancient Music, London Mozart Players, Cappella Cracoviensis, and Cambridge Chorale. His own vocal consort, The Gesualdo Six, tour extensively around the world and have been lauded for their interpretation of renaissance and contemporary music.

Owain is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO) and was awarded the Dixon Prize for improvisation, having been Senior Organ Scholar at Wells Cathedral and Trinity College Cambridge. He holds a Masters degree in composition and regularly appears as a singer with ensembles including Tenebrae, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen and Polyphony.
 
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Choir Members

 
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The Percussion Ensemble of London

The Percussion Ensemble of London was formed in 2014 in response to a request from a conductor who required a percussion ensemble for an arts festival he was putting together. Later that year we performed as part of the Thames Festival to great acclaim. Since then we have performed with many choral societies across the South East and London in performances of Carmina Burana, Rio Grande, In Honour of the City and a first performance of Jonathan Dove’s Arion and the Dolphin.

In 2023 we are again opening the Thames Festival series with a solo Ensemble concert featuring a varied programme of old and new pieces, including Leonard Salzedo's Concerto for Percussion and a first performance of a new work, as yet untitled.

The members of the ensemble come from a wide range of musical backgrounds. When not playing as an ensemble we perform in opera houses, West End musicals and many of the major UK orchestras.

To follow us and find out more about future performances please visit our website: www.percoflondon.com

• Sebastian Guard
• Christopher Nall
• John Rockliffe
• George English
• Christopher Blundell

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Jonathan Willcocks - conductor

Jonathan Willcocks was born in Worcester and after early musical training as a chorister at King's College Cambridge and an Open Music Scholar at Clifton College, he took an Honours degree in Music from Cambridge University where he held a choral scholarship at Trinity College.

He is currently Musical Director of Guildford Choral, The Chichester Singers and the professional chamber orchestra Southern Pro Musica and is Festival Conductor for the Leith Hill Music Festival. Freelance conducting and workshop engagements have taken him to many parts of the world including the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, China and most of the European countries as well as the United Kingdom. These engagements have seen him conducting concerts in many of the world's finest concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and Perth Concert Hall, Australia as well as closer to home in the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London and Symphony Hall in Birmingham.

Jonathan's compositions encompass large-scale orchestral scores and chamber music in addition to many choral works, and his music is published principally by Oxford University Press, Lorenz (USA) and Prime Music/ MorningStar. Jonathan's music is widely performed and recorded with three CDs issued by Priory Records devoted to his choral music, three CDs of music for children's choir and a new recording of his works for narrator and orchestra with the distinguished musician and broadcaster Brian Kay. His music has been played at the BBC Proms and his choral repertoire has also been recorded by many other well-known choirs such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the London Bach Choir. Much of his music has been written to commission for choirs, orchestras and ensembles in the UK, USA and around the world and his choral music has been recognised by nomination for the Academy of Composers and Songwriters' prestigious British Composer Awards.

Performers and audiences alike are attracted to Jonathan's vibrantly rhythmic and tuneful compositional style. Full details of his music, including samples of recordings, can be found at www.jonathanwillcocks.com

Jonathan's extensive choral and orchestral conducting experience results in many invitations to take choral workshops and adjudicate competitions. Although his career now focuses principally on his conducting and composition work, he has in the past held major posts in general and specialist music education - most recently at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

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Philip Scriven - piano

Philip Scriven is widely regarded as one of the finest organists of his generation and is highly respected as a choral, orchestral and operatic conductor. He is currently Organist-in-Residence at Cranleigh School, co-founder and Principal Conductor of the Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor and Accompanist of the world-renowned Bach Choir, combining these posts with a freelance recital career which takes him all over the world.

He has made numerous recordings including works such as Holst’s The Planets which he has transcribed for the organ. His CD Piping Hot was praised in Gramophone magazine for 'the outstanding quality of his playing … good- humoured and sparkling … a joy to listen to', and he has performed transcriptions of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring as part of the Grand Organ Festival in Westminster Cathedral.

From 2002-2010 Philip was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Lichfield Cathedral where he was also the Musical Director of the Lichfield Cathedral Chorus, having held previous positions at Westminster Abbey, St George’s Chapel Windsor Castle, St John’s College Cambridge and Winchester Cathedral. He took on the role of accompanist to Guildford Choral in 2021.


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Sue Graham Smith - piano

Sue has worked for many years as a freelance musician. She is Accompanist to Brighton Festival Chorus, Chichester Singers and West Sussex Youth Choir. She also formed ‘Singing Memories’, a dementia-friendly singing group.

Sue has been Music Director of Opera Brava and two churches. She was Assistant Music Director / Pianist to Cantate Youth Choir (Sainsbury’s Children’s Choir of the Year 2000) and Accompanist to Hertfordshire Chorus, Harlow Chorus and Hertford Choral Society. Sue has examined for Associated Board, coached over 30 operas and worked with BBC Symphony Chorus and English National Opera as well as being a ‘Singing for the Brain’ Leader with Alzheimer’s Society. Sue has played many times on TV/radio, including BBC Songs of Praise and Maestro (with celebrity conductors). She has recorded a commercial CD of Carmina Burana.


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Gareth Brynmor John - baritone

Gareth Brynmor John is the 2013 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award. He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music where, in his final year, he won the Royal Academy of Music Patrons’ Award. He then studied at the National Opera Studio where he was supported by the Royal Opera House.

He made his Welsh National Opera début in Spring 2017 singing Schaunard (La Bohème), and has gone on to sing the title role in Eugene Onegin, Masetto (Don Giovanni), Robert (Les Vepres Sicilliennes), Papageno (The Magic Flute) and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) all for WNO.

He recently performed Ishmeron (The Indian Queen) for Opéra de Lille under Emmanuelle Haïm. The production returns next Spring with performances at Opera de Caen, Opera de Luxembourg and Antwerp Opera.
Gareth has performed extensively on the concert platform with a number of the UK’s leading orchestras and ensembles. Highlights and future plans include Elijah with the Really Big Chorus at Birmingham Town Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Cadogan Hall; Carmina Burana with the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall, with Hertfordshire Chorus at the Barbican, and at the Royal Albert Hall; Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony at Salisbury Cathedral, and with the English Arts Chorale at Dorking Halls; Britten’s War Requiem at Guildford and Chichester Cathedrals and with the Cambridge University Music Society; Belshazzar’s Feast at Guildford Cathedral; The World Premiere of Vision of a Garden (Richard Blackford) with The Bach Choir and David Hill at the Festival Hall; and St Matthew Passion at the Festival Hall with the Bach Choir.

Sought after for his performances of lieder, he has given recitals at St John’s Smith Square, Wigmore Hall, Barber Institute, King’s Place, and at many of the UK music festivals. He recently shared two recitals with Roderick Williams as part of the Momentum Artists project, and sang Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs with the Aalborg Symphoniker broadcast on Danish Radio P2. His recording of Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen with Trevor Pinnock is available on Linn Records. His recent recording of Stanford’s Children’s songs for the Somm label has received wide critical acclaim as well as his solo recording for the Champs Hill label. 


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Josephine Goddard - soprano

Josephine is a British Soprano described this summer by The Stage as “a revelation”. She trained at the Royal College of Music Opera School and has had notable competition success including second prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

She has worked with many renowned opera companies most recently performing the role of Mrs Waters in Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate to great critical acclaim as part of the Grimeborn festival and on tour. She also recently performed as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin for Garsington opera as part of their Opera First programme. Other recent successes include winning the Christine Collins award from Garsington Opera, the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal for outstanding achievement and service to the RCM and a Help Musicians UK Licette Award.

She is regularly in demand as a soloist at many prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Cadogan Hall.

Operatic roles include: Mrs Waters The Boatswain’s Mate, Spectra Ensemble; Donna Elvira Don Giovanni, Oxford Sinfonia; Tatyana Eugene Onegin, Garsington Opera Operafirst performance; Mařenka The Bartered Bride, Garsington Opera cove); Contessa Le nozze di Figaro, RCMIOS; Angel Seven Angels OperArt, V&A; Ella In the Locked Room, RCMIOS.


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