Love in the afternoon

To mark the February season of St Valentine, the Cambridge Philharmonic Society is offering an afternoon concert of choral and orchestral music to celebrate love in its many guises – everything from romance to comedy on Sunday February 15 at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge.

The singers and string players of the Philharmonic will seduce their listeners with music from over four centuries – from Dowland to Elgar, from Haydn to Gershwin. The music celebrates the joys of romantic love, the pleasures of marriages fulfilled, the pain of unrequited love, and the tragic consequences of love undone. Among the many sung and played musical pieces on offer, Can she excuse my wrongs? is set to music by Dowland (1563–1626), the chorus sings Matona, mia Cara to music by the sixteenth century composer Lassus, and the strings of the Philharmonic will offer Elgar’s blissful tribute to his wife, Salut d’amour and William Walton’s heart-wrenching Touch her Soft Lips and Part. And if that sounds too serious, there is the sheer fun and absurdity of love to play with too, in music from different times.

The Philharmonic’s programme of love includes music to make you smile, music to make you weep and music to make your heart swell or break, depending on your taste! And there’s tea, too, and probably Tea for Two as well (and strange noises in the foyer).

Love is in the air when February comes around, and who better to beguile your senses and whet your romantic appetites than the Cambridge Philharmonic Society. For, to quote the poet WH Auden, ‘we must love one another or die’ - and love seems the infinitely preferable option!

The performance starts at 3.00pm in the University Concert Hall, West Road. Tickets (£10; £5 for children, and students on the door) are available from the Cambridge Arts Theatre Box Office (01223 503333), online at www.cam-phil.org.uk, or at the door.

Notes for editors

For further information including biographies please see our web site, www.cam-phil.org.uk.
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