The Bard of Avon’s writings through the music of Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams, Bernstein and more.

William Shakespeare’s late 16th century plays and poetry have been brought to life through dramatic and musical performances for over four centuries. Malaspina Choir, with guest ensemble The Sinclair Singers, will perform a concert full of fanciful fairies, lovers and lasses, and two winter songs: ‘Hey, Ho, the Wind and the Rain’, in a jazz arrangement by George Shearing; and ‘Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind’, one of John Rutter’s loveliest choral pieces. Shakespeare’s most beloved Sonnet 116, with the text ‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds’, is rejuvenated in a gorgeous piece by English composer Bob Chilcott. The finale will tell the story of Romeo and Juliet, with a medley of popular songs from West Side Story, by Leonard Bernstein.