commissioned works
From time to time in its history Charlton Kings Choral Society has commissioned works from local composers. In 1976 the choir performed Philip Lane's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, while the concert in autumn 1979 featured Jubilate, composed by Tony Hewitt-Jones.
More recently, the society asked Ian Venables to compose a work for the Millenium. His work Awake, awake, the world is young, a setting of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memorium and A New Year's Carol by James Elroy Flecker, had its premiere in Autumn 2000, and will be performed by the choir again in our November 2010 concert.
In 2004 the choir invited conductor John Wright to compose a major work for their Autumn concert of that year. The work was In praise of earth's beauty, a setting of Psalm 121 and 148 and works by Gloucestershire poets.
Under The Wide Sky by Guy Turner, a setting of words by Robert Louis Stevenson, was the society's latest commission, performed in Autum 2009. It was commissioned with funds generously left to the choir by the late Alan Blenkin, a former member of the basses.
CKCS conductor John Wright, tenor and CKCS president James Gilchrist and composer Guy Turner pictured at the premiere of Guy Turner's work Under The Wide Sky