FUTURE EVENTS
St Albans Copies of Magna Carta: recent research.
A talk by Professor David Carpenter of Kings College London.
Thursday 29th January 2015
Five academic institutions have combined to provide a modern translation and expert
commentary on the 1215 and 1225 editions of Magna Carta. During the course of their
research the project members have discovered a number of previously unknown original
copies of the Charters.
David Carpenter has written extensively on the context and reception of Magna Carta, and
is currently writing a book on the charter for Penguin which is due to be published in
January 2015, just before he comes to talk to us. David is always interesting and
entertaining: his talk will complement the exhibition in the Abbey in 2013, and mark the
800th anniversary of the original signing in June 1215.
Before the talk there will be supper in the Abbot’s Kitchen for those who would like to
socialise. Supper will be served from 6.30pm and wine may be purchased by the glass. The
lecture will take place in the Lady Chapel at 8pm. Tickets may be purchased for the lecture
alone.
Tickets: Members £18; Non-members £20.50 (includes supper and lecture)
Tickets for lecture alone: Members £6, Non-members £8.50.
An Evening with the LSO at the Barbican
Thursday 12th March 2015
Our trip to the Barbican to hear an LSO concert has become a popular annual event. As
usual we have booked a coach to take us into London in time for a light supper and bring us
home avoiding the post theatre crush.
The programme this year consists of Colin Matthews, Hidden Variables; Gershwin’s Concerto
in F; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5. The conductor will be Michael Tilson Thomas, and
this will be his 70th Birthday Gala event. The soloist is the pianist Yuja Wang.
The orchestral version of Hidden Variables was commissioned for the LSO. It premiered in
1992 conducted by Thomas. This is an easy going piece given real style by Matthews’
compositional skill. In the Concerto in F Gershwin moved away from his jazz-influenced
Rhapsody in Blue towards the classical concerto form. The piece has become very popular,
and was much liked by Walton and Stravinsky. Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 was first
performed in 1937 to great acclaim. It represented a subtle compromise with the musical
expectations of the Stalinist regime. In this piece Shostakovich developed a musical
language which welded his audience together, uplifting them with the constrained power of
its movement.
This should be a very special evening both because of the music and also because it is a gala
event with all the excitement such an occasion produces. As in previous years we have
reserved seats in the Circle for which we receive a discount, and hope to enjoy an interval
reception. Our coach will leave Westminster Lodge car park at 5pm prompt. The concert
starts at 7.30pm and will end around 9.30pm when our coach will be waiting outside to take
us home.
Tickets: Members £32; Non-members £34.50 (includes coach travel,
admission and interval reception)
Blood and Sweat: the Witness of Oscar Romero's Life and Death
Monday 23 March 2015
In partnership with the Cathedral Study Centre
Jan Graffius is Curator of the extraordinary collections held at the Jesuit College at
Stonyhurst in Lancashire, which has good claim to be the oldest museum in Britain. Her
work with their unique collection of English Catholic relics and artefacts led directly to her
involvement in the Romero Trust project to conserve the relics and possessions of
Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was murdered by Salvadoran death squads in 1980, and
who appears among the new martyr statues being installed at St Albans Cathedral.
Romero's poignant bloodstained clothing and his simple possessions are preserved today in
his tiny house in San Salvador, where they are a focus for pilgrims worldwide. Jan's work has
revealed some startling insights into Romero's life and the last few seconds before his
death. Such insights are valuable in a world where truth and justice are all too often clouded
by powerful vested interests, and, with the likelihood of Romero's imminent beatification by
the Vatican, this is a story with deep relevance for our own times.
Before the talk there will be supper in the Abbot's Kitchen served at 6.30pm for those who
would like to socialise. The lecture will take place in the Crypt at 7.30pm
Tickets: £18.50 includes supper and lecture
Tickets for lecture only: £5