In the Footsteps of Alexander – Sat 3 May – St Thomas’ Church Wells, 7pm
Alexander the Great lived for only 33 years yet, from the age of 20 when he succeeded his father Philip II to the throne of the ancient kingdom of Macedon in 336BC, he expanded his empire further and further east until it stretched from the Mediterranean into India. As a pupil of Aristotle, Alexander was a cultured man as well as a warrior and our programme follows his campaigns from modern Greece, through Persia to India through settings of words by the earliest known female poet Sappho (a world premiere from Jonathan Lane entitled Sappho Fragments), the Greek Orthodox nun Mother Thekla, portions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore and the sacred Hindu text the Rig Veda.
Composers include John Tavener, Gustav Holst, Andrew Gant and Charles Stanford and the whole programme weaves a fascinating musical path following in Alexander’s footsteps.
Advance booking opens 1 March, tickets £10.