Unknown Britten choral work given its premiere

Published on isbi School News dated Monday 14th of January 2013

Seven choristers from the Prep School's Jiminies choir recently gave the first public performance of an unpublished choral work by OG composer Benjamin Britten. The performance, which was during a school chapel service, comes at the start of the composer's centenary year and the school's own Britten 100 celebrations.

The piece entitled 'Veni Sponsa' was written by Britten four years after leaving Gresham's in 1934 and was intended to be performed as a prelude to a Magnificat. Gresham's is grateful to the Britten-Pears Foundation for giving permission to the school for its first performance.

A new film charting Britten's life at the school in the late 1930s is to be given its first screening at the Auden Theatre on 9th February. For more information, please contact the box office on 01263 713444 or boxoffice@greshams.com, and visit www.benjaminbrittenfilm.co.uk.