Upcoming concerts

There is an Old Belief

Saturday 10 October 4pm

Christ Church, Cross St, Skipton BD23 2AH

Join us for a concert of profound and beautiful choral music that reflects on memory, time and the mysteries that have inspired composers for centuries. At its heart are two remarkable masterpieces that ask timeless questions about what it means to remember, to let go and to look beyond ourselves.

The concert opens with Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Requiem, one of the hidden treasures of twentieth-century choral music. After a period where the Italian repertoire was dominated by grand operatic works, Pizzetti returned to a starker, more spiritual neo-Renaissance style, heavily influenced by Palestrina and 16th-century polyphony. A rare example of an Italian Requiem written entirely unaccompanied, Pizzetti strips the music back to its bare essentials, fusing early modal scales and Gregorian chant with more contemporary, dissonant harmonies and complex, shifting rhythms.

It is paired with Hubert Parry’s Songs of Farewell, widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in English choral music. Composed during the final years of the First World War, these six settings trace a journey through reflection, wonder and acceptance, including the radiant There is an Old Belief, which gives the concert its title.

Nuevo Mundo

Saturday 24 April 7.30pm

Skipton Town Hall, Skipton, BD23 1AH

Pinsuti Chamber Choir returns to the beautiful Skipton Town Hall to present a vibrant programme inspired by the New World.

At the heart of the concert is Ariel Ramírez’s much-loved Misa Criolla, a landmark setting of the Mass that combines choral writing with the rhythms, colours and instruments of Latin America. Pinsuti is delighted to be once again joined by Leeds-based samba-driven funk and soul band, Tempo Feliz, to bring its distinctive sound-world vividly to life.

The programme also includes two magnificent eight-part Marian motets by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, one of the great composers of 17th-century Mexico, whose music blends Renaissance polyphony with the rich musical culture of the New World. Alongside these, Aaron Copland’s extraordinary In the Beginning offers a strikingly different vision of creation: spacious, elemental and unmistakably American.

Tempo Feliz will also perform a set in the second half, adding an irresistible burst of Latin American energy to an evening of vivid contrasts.

From the grandeur of sacred polyphony to the rhythmic vitality of the Misa Criolla, Nuevo Mundo is a concert full of colour, atmosphere and discovery.