Cadilly at St Mary's Church

Stephen Dodgson’s short opera Cadilly is based on a story from W. H. Barrett’s Tales from the Fens, with libretto by David Reynolds. The story tells the tale of the promiscuous protagonist Anna Marie Cadilly’s escape from the gaol with the help of her crafty family and simpleton Silly Billy, the finest skater in the fens. Originally set for the unusual forces of six soloists, chorus and wind quintet, this concert version of the piece is performed by four singers and wind quintet.

Cadilly is preceded by two sets of English songs for voice and winds. Gypsy Songs are settings of four Jacobean poems by Ben Johnson, commissioned as a wedding gift by George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham. Written for the 1958 film “The Vision of William Blake”, and hailed by Grove Music as "a masterpiece of economy and precision", Ten Blake Songs was one of the last compositions of Vaughan Williams.