Dorchester Abbey

Alma Dei creatoris is a sacred motet that serves as an offertory to the Virgin Mary, possibly written around 1777.
Horn Concerto No 4 (K 495) is a cheerful, virtuosic work from 1786 for his friend, horn player Joseph Leutgeb, famed for its playful dialogue and hunting themes.
Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit) is a medieval Latin hymn and prayer.
The Sinfonia Concertante for strings is a rich and complex piece featuring solo violin and viola that emerged from his quest for artistic freedom in 1779.

VW’s Symphony No 5 is a serene and contemplative work, often called the "Celestial City," completed in 1943 during World War II, which offers a pastoral and mysterious sound world that contrasts with the previous Fourth Symphony.
Walton's Crown Imperial, a grand orchestral march from the 1937 coronation of King George VI, is a staple of British state occasions.
Elgar’s Cello Concerto is a deeply personal and elegiac work written after World War I, in contrast with his earlier, more bombastic style.

NEW - season tickets for all seven concerts at Dorchester Abbey September to December 2026. offering a discount of 15% off the standard price for Front area (front pews and side chapel) and 15% off Middle area (pews). FRONTS £183...

Lili Boulanger's D'un matin de printemps is a brief, nuanced piece combining joyful high spirits with poignant introspection.
Rejecting the flashy, empty virtuosity popular at the time, Schumann envisioned a new type of piano concerto - one where the piano and orchestra engage in a passionate, equal dialogue.
Composed in just five weeks in late 1850, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish" is a joyous, five-movement masterpiece inspired by his move to Düsseldorf and a trip to the Rhineland.

A spirited homage to Zoltán Kodály's childhood memories, Dances of Galánta (1933) is a vibrant orchestral showpiece based on 18th-century Hungarian folk music.
The Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor of 1887, was an olive branch offered to his estranged friend, the great violinist Joseph Joachim, with the cello part written for Joachim's quartet cellist, Robert Hausmann.
Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom Beethoven admired as a champion of freedom, the "Heroic" Symphony was renamed in fury when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor in 1804.

Ginestera Dances from Estancia no 2 and 4
Darius Milhaud's La création du monde (The Creation of the World) is a groundbreaking 1923 ballet blending African creation myths with the vibrant sounds of American jazz, featuring bitonal harmonies, syncopated rhythms and bluesy melodies.
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is a landmark American work, blending jazz & classical music, famous for its iconic clarinet glissando, capturing the energy of the Roaring Twenties with its mix of syncopation, soulful melodies, & "blue notes".
The Firebird was Stravinsky’s first major breakthrough, commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for his pioneering Ballets Russes in Paris. It immediately propelled the 28-year-old composer to international fame.