Welcome
from
John McMunn Chief Executive ’Tis Nature’s Voice; thro’ all the moving Wood Of Creatures understood: The Universal Tongue to none Of all her num'rous Race unknown! So writes the poet Nicholas Brady (adapting Dryden’s Song for St Cecilia’s Day) in the libretto to Purcell’s great ode Hail! Bright Cecilia. A bold claim indeed, as while it has become a cliché to refer to music as ‘the universal language’, few have gone quite so far in asserting its extension beyond humanity to the natural world. Such boldness feels apposite however in the current moment, and so we’ve chosen to dedicate our 2022/23 season to exploring the idea of nature, the natural world and our own place within it. Inevitably this takes in chattering songbirds, croaking toads, raucous storms and swirling tides. But it also considers the nature of music itself, the environments humans have created for themselves and indeed the very meaning of life. High-mindedness aside, the root of it all is simple: music of the very highest quality – by Handel, Vivaldi, JS Bach, Purcell and others – performed to the very highest standard by our acclaimed musicians. To paraphrase Brady: what else could so charm the sense or captivate the mind?
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