Aled's March appearances

xbons · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:31 pm Post subject: Aled's March appearances

So - a concert this month for those lucky enough to go! Very Happy

Saturday 1st 7.30 - 9.45 The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Liverpool Welsh Choral welcome Aled to celebrate St David's Day in a tribute to the city's rich cultural heritage. This musical partnership always produces concerts of the highest calibre which win acclaim from critics and audiences.

Sunday 2nd:
* Good Morning Sunday: BBC radio 2: 7.00 – 9.00 Aled welcomes singer-songwriter Tom Baxter and, on Mother's Day, Gabby Logan's mother, Christine Yorath.
* The Choir: BBC radio 3: 6.30 – 8.00 Aled explores the world of minimalist music and talks to Gavin Bryars about his career and his recent collaborations with the Latvian Radio Choir
Monday 3rd: 7.30: St Paul’s Cathedral Recording of 'At the Foot of the Cross'. Aled introduces a programme of music, poetry and prayer for Good Friday, recorded at St Paul's Cathedral, London.
Friday 7th: BBC radio 2: 6.00 - 7.30: Aled sits in for Sarah Kennedy

Sunday 9th:
* Good Morning Sunday: BBC radio 2: 7.00 – 9.00 Aled welcomes Josh Ritter, who talks about his life, music and his fascination with the Bible.
* Songs of Praise: BBC1 4:55pm - 5:30pm. Aled introduces the final of the Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year competition. Six Choirs from across the UK face the judges Howard Goodall, Lesley Garrett and Bazil Meade of the London Community Gospel Choir who have to decide who will become Junior and Senior School Choir of the Year 2008. Music includes 'You shall go out with Joy' and 'One more step'.
* The Choir: BBC radio 3: 6.30 – 8.00 Aled presents a selection of psalms, with settings by Vaughan Williams, Tavener, Ives, Bernstein and Bobby McFerrin. And choral directors Jeremy Summerly and Sarah Baldock test whether a cathedral choir can be judged by its psalm chanting.
Monday 10th:
*Issue of Good Morning Sunday CD - see post in Aled's forum for details

Sunday 16th: * Good Morning Sunday: BBC radio 2: 7.00 – 9.00 Aled is talking to Joseph Mawle who plays Jesus in BBC1's dramatisation of the events of the first Easter in The Passion, and Barbara Dickson reads the last installment of the Lent Monologues.
* Songs of Praise: BBC 1: 5.30 - 6.05: Songs of Praise special. Aled introduces the six finalists of the Songs of Praise School Choir of the year competition from the newly refurbished Manchester Monastery. Chair of Judges Howard Goodall reveals who has won the coveted titles Junior and Senior School Choir of the Year 2008. Music includes How Great Thou Art, The Lord Is My Shepherd, and all the choirs join together to sing The World in Union.
* The Choir : BBC radio 3: 6.30 – 8.00 Aled explores Iceland's strong choral tradition with the help of Icelandic composer Haflioi Hallgrimsson and self-confessed lover of all things Nordic, music critic Hilary Finch. Plus a pick of new choral releases including contemporary music for Passiontide from the group Commotio.
Friday 21st Radio 2: At the Foot of the Cross. Radio 2 visits St Paul's Cathedral with the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by St Paul's Director of Music Andrew Carwood, for a special Good Friday performance of Fauré's Requiem. Aled introduces a meditation on the journey to the cross, including poetry, prayer and the biblical passion-tide narrative; and Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year, Joel Whitewood sings the famous Pie Jesu.
The St Paul's Consort of Voices are joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra for Radio 2's annual meditation, including the Good Friday hymns 'There is a green hill' and 'When I survey the wondrous cross'.
Of the many settings of the Requiem, Fauré's is probably the most widely loved, and its haunting melodies are immensely popular with audiences. Fauré's setting is gentle and unassuming, yet it is this very quality of understatement which contributes so eloquently to the work's universal appeal. The composer described the piece as "dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest…a lullaby of death. I wanted to write something different." It is impossible not to be moved by the ethereal beauty of this humble masterpiece.
Recorded: Monday 3rd March

Sunday 23rd:
* Good Morning Sunday: BBC radio 2: 7.00 – 9.00 Aled says Good Morning Sunday to BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Folk Singer of the Year, Julie Fowlis. There is an Easter poem from Jeremy Paxman and live music from AVE Gospel Choir.
* The Choir : BBC radio 3: 6.30 – 8.00 Aled is joined by Terry Edwards, who went from playing Olympic basketball to becoming one of Britain's most prolific choral directors. As well as working on scores for the newer Star Wars films and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he has worked with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Royal Opera Chorus, London Sinfonietta Voices and the avant-garde ensemble Electric Phoenix.
Plus an Easter farewell to Alan Thurlow, who is retiring after 28 years as organist at Chichester Cathedral.
Monday 24th: 1400-1700 - Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Songs of Praise recording, presented by Aled
Thursday 27th: ITV 12.30 - 1.30 - Loose Women: Aled will be telling the panel about his new album, Aled Jones Presents Good Morning Sunday.

Sunday 30th:
* Good Morning Sunday: BBC radio 2: 7.00 – 9.00 Guests: Steve Balsamo and Rabbi Pete Tobias
* Songs of Praise: BBC1 5.00. – 5.35 Aled asks whether confession is good for the soul. He meets people who are facing up to their past, including a former shoplifter, and a man whose life was changed by reading The Da Vinci Code. Music comes from Leeds Cathedral and includes Praise My Soul The King Of Heaven, Be Not Afraid, and Just As I Am.
* The Choir: BBC radio 3: 6.30 – 8.00 Aled meets Nicholas Smith, who has the perilous job of being a Western choral director in China and who is on a one-man mission: to bring large-scale Western choral music to concert halls in Beijing and beyond.
"Guerrilla forces" is how Smith describes his International Festival Chorus – hardly surprising given the delicacy of his relationship with the State authorities in Beijing. Performance in churches is not currently an option, and one conductor who mounted an ambitious concert of Mozart's Requiem has since served a prison sentence for his trouble, yet Smith continues undaunted. His annual performances of Handel's Messiah are sell-outs and he has already given the Chinese première of Bach's St Matthew Passion, a good 250 years after it was written.
Aled is also joined by Lucy Luo, one of the many Chinese singers who stand amongst the ranks of the chorus, and there's a chance to hear the choir in action singing music by Rachmaninov, Verdi and Puccini.
There's a trip Stateside to meet Charlie Beale, who's recently traded his Music Director job at the London Gay Men's Chorus for the New York equivalent. He found a group totally united in its mission, not least because, over a single decade, it lost 150 singers to HIV/Aids, and was often singing at members' funerals three or four times a month. However, it's also a musical scene thriving as much as ever, and one not shy of tackling prejudice and politics head-on through music.
Monday 31st: Friday Night is Music Night - Mermaid Theatre. 7.30 - 9.15 Pre-record