Prom 64: Choral Day (II), Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, Stoddart / Ferdinand

[bluestateprommer]

Saturday 7 September 2024
14:00
Royal Albert Hall

John Rosamond Johnson (arr. R. Carter): 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' (first performance at The Proms)

Ken Burton: "A Prayer"

Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives - Hallelujah

James Mulholland: 'Kéramos' (first performance at The Proms)

Roderick Williams: 'The Lord's Prayer' (first performance at The Proms)

John Stoddart: A Choral Fantasy on 'Soon I Will Be Done' (first performance at The Proms)

Traditional:
(a) 'Didn’ it rain' (arr. D. E. Dillard; first performance at The Proms)
(b) 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen'
(c) 'His Name So Sweet' (first performance at The Proms)

Erroll Garner (arr. J. Stoddart): 'Misty' (first performance at The Proms)

Woody Guthrie (arr. B. Morgan): 'This Land Is Your Land' (first performance at The Proms)

Jason Max Ferdinand: 'Safe in His Arms' (first performance at The Proms)

Thomas A. Dorsey: 'Precious Lord' (first performance at The Proms)

Traditional: 'He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands' (arr. C. Dent; first performance at The Proms)

Jacob Collier: 'World O World' (European premiere)


Jason Max Ferdinand Singers (Proms debut ensemble)

Rakhi Singh, first violin
Martyn Jackson, second violin (Proms debut artist)
Clifton Harrison, viola (Proms debut artist)
Ashok Klouda, cello
Ben Havinden-Williams, double bass

Blake Morgan, tenor and guest singer

John Stoddart, piano (Proms debut artist)
Jason Max Ferdinand, conductor (Proms debut artist)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ehzv9r

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-64/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022lcy

[bluestateprommer]

Caught up with this second of the "Choral Day" Proms, but the first of the 3 that I've heard, and thus listening somewhat "out of order". With the semi-full disclosure that spirituals and gospel aren't really my thing (not that the entire concert was devoted to those genres, far from it), this was a solidly fine concert, with the JMFS doing themselves proud. The works by "J. Max" himself and Jacob Collier struck me each as a bit overlong. But it's good to have fresh composer names and voices featured at The Proms (as indeed anywhere else).

Since Georgia Mann kindly mentioned the names of the bespoke string quintet, I tracked down their names, hopefully accurately, and archived them in the thread, along with the full concert 'set list', and Blake Morgan from VOCES8 as a guest artist.