Top actors star in evening of music and poetry at St Paul's

Two of England’s best-known and most-loved actors will give the first ever reading of a newly commissioned poem for St Paul’s at an evening of music and verse at the Cathedral.

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Sheila Hancock, CBE and Sam West will come to the Cathedral for the Touching Eternity concert on Wednesday 26 September, when they will perform alongside St Paul’s Cathedral Choir.

The evening will include the reading of Resurgam, a poem written by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, commissioned especially for the 300^th anniversary of the completion of St Paul’s, celebrated last year.

The four-part poem focuses on the history of the Cathedral Church and the place it has in the nation’s heart. The final part of the poem, Whispering Gallery, has been set to music by Master of the Queen’s Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and will be sung by the Cathedral Choir.

The concert also features a programme of choral music including Jubilate in C by Benjamin Britten, excerpts from Franz Josef Haydn’s The Creation and C Hubert H Parry’s Coronation anthem, I was Glad. The Cathedral Choir will be led by Director of Music Andrew Carwood and accompanied by Organist Simon Johnson.

The Reverend Canon Michael Hampel, Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral said: "We are incredibly excited at the prospect of this new work being delivered by two such fine actors as well as the setting of the final section by one of this country’s leading composers and performed by one of its very best choirs.

"The name of this concert, Touching Eternity, is inspired by a phrase from this new poem written by Sir Andrew Motion, and it wonderfully reflects the principal role of this remarkable church as a place of worship.”

Tickets for the concert are available through www.timeout.com/stpaulscathedral at the discounted price of £8, £6 and £3. They are also available on the door priced at £10, £8 and £5.

Doors open at 5.45pm for a 6.30pm start.