Martyr, a major new work for chorus, soloists and orchestra by Tarik O’Regan receives its premiere on January 24 in St Albans Abbey, Hertfordshire. The piece has been commissioned by the St Albans Chamber Choir to mark its fiftieth anniversary and will be performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the choir’s music director John Gibbons.
A meditation on the life of St Alban, the piece combines words by Wordsworth with an 11th century hymn ‘Martyr Dei’, which form the centrepiece of the work. It will be performed alongside Haydn’s Nelson Mass, with which it shares its orchestration.