The Open University Choir accompanied by the Cantoribus Ensemble will give a free concert in the Hub Theatre on the Walton Hall campus on July 6, with Milton Keynes and the OU playing a prominent role in the programme.

In March 2020 the Open University Choir’s concert was cancelled at short notice because of the Covid pandemic. Three years later, the choir returns to some of the music in that programme, most notably the second performance of A different kind of urban, a piece commissioned in 2017 by members and friends of the choir to celebrate MK50, the 50th birthday of Milton Keynes. Composed by Open University Associate Lecturer Liz Lane, with lyrics reflecting Milton Keynes and its history by long-term MK resident and former staff member Judi Moore, this approachable, tuneful piece is accompanied by the stirring combination of the brass instruments, timpani and percussion of the Cantoribus Ensemble. 

The concert will begin with the world première of Constellations, another work by Liz Lane, which was commissioned by two members of the choir, Bill Strang and Tim Hunt, for the 2020 concert. Scored for brass and percussion, Constellations was designed as an instrumental prelude to another work in the programme, Henry Purcell's anthem I was glad , which was composed for the elaborate coronation of James II in Westminster Abbey in 1685.

The concert also includes the rarely-performed Elegiac Song by Ludwig van Beethoven, which was written as a memorial to the wife of a friend. This will be performed by the choir with a brass accompaniment, in a new arrangement by director of music, Bill Strang.

The programme is completed with Bill’s revision of his 2003 arrangement of the Olney hymn Amazing grace, which celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2023.

The concert is free and open to all. Advance bookings via Eventbrite can be made at:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-different-kind-of-urban-second-performance-tickets-642138773357

Tickets on the door are subject to availability.

The concert is being recorded and will also be live-streamed via to all regions, nations and staff working from home.