Thursday 27 February 2020

Celebrating 500 years of St Peter ad Vincula

Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London
Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London
2020 marks the 500th anniversary of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. To celebrate there is series of concerts, starting with Bach's St John Passion (29/3/2020), with the Choir and Band of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London, conducted by Colm Carey with William Searle (Evangelist) and Caspar Barrie (Christus).

The concerts continue with Tom Poulson (trumpet) and Christian Wilson (organ) in Purcell, Handel and Sally Beamish (19/5/2020), and further ahead soprano Zoe Brookshaw and lutenist Eligio Luis Quinteiro in Dowland, Danyel, Kapsperger and Purcell, Clare McCaldin in Martin Bussey's opera Mary's Hand [see my review], and the season ends with a gala concert on 17/11/2020 including Handel’s Eighth Chandos Anthem and Vivaldi's Gloria.

There was a chapel on the site of the present one before the Norman conquest. Repaired by Henry III, in 1286 Henry's son, Edward I, had the old chapel demolished and built a new one which survived until it was largely destroyed by fire in 1512. In 1519 work began under Henry VIII on the Tudor chapel which we see today, where the first service is believed to have taken place on 1 August 1520.

Full details from the Tower of London website.

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