Music commissioned by the choir
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Sound Investment
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Sasha at the premiere of Psalm 91
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The Sound Investment scheme aims to sponsor young composers to provide exciting new works for St George's and other choirs to sing.
Sasha Johnson Manning was commissioned to compose a new work, Psalm 91, which received its world premiere on Saturday 22 June 2002 at St Georges Church, Stockport. The work is in three sections with the organ as a vital element through which the mood of the verses is portrayed. The rich, flowing harmonies of the first sections contrast with the jubilant and syncopated dance-like passages of the third part. The effective reprise of the music from the opening of the work, brings the piece to its tranquil conclusion.
Sasha, one of Britain’s most promising singers and composers of choral music, trained at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where she studied voice, ‘cello, piano and composition. Since then she has taken part in numerous broadcasts and recordings with the BBC Northern Singers, now the Britten Singers, both as a soloist and as an ensemble singer.
Sasha is the Director of Music at St Mary’s Parish Church in Bowdon, Cheshire, UK. As a keen composer, her settings of the Evening Canticles have been performed in the cathedrals of Winchester, Worcester, York, Norwich and Wells (where her Bowdon Mass was also premièred ).
Recent compositions include a Requiem for the St Louis Chamber Chorus in Missouri, USA, to be recorded on CD, and a large scale work for chorus and orchestra for a millennium performance at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK. A selection of her carols is currently being published by Escorial Edition.
Sasha’s extensive Oratorio repertoire as a Soprano ranges from Monteverdi’s Vespers to Poulenc’s Gloria. Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Haydn’s Creation, and Bach’s Mass in B Minor. She has performed in the Netherlands and Belgium with guitarist Paco Peña, singing his Missa Flamenca; toured France and Germany with the Deller Consort and performed as their soloist in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. In 2001 she made ‘Behold the Man’ with Sir Derek Jacobi for the BBC. In the same year she was filmed singing part of Handel’s Messiah in the Anglican Cathedral at Liverpool, UK, for the film “My Kingdom”, starring Richard Harris and Lynn Redgrave.
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FreshAir - Young Composers Competition - 2000
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FreshAir was a competition for under-21s to compose a choral composition for the choir. We had a fantastic response and chose a number of excellent pieces to perform at a gala concert in the year 2000. |
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