Congratulations to all those involved in Saturday’s Sounding Shakespeare concert, which brought together the University Chorus and Symphony Orchestra together in resounding form in a musical pot pourri celebrating the Bard’s 400th anniversary.

Led by second-year Law student, Lydia Cheng, conducted by Susan Wanless, the orchestra opened with two pieces by Mendelssohn, before joining the Chorus in Rutter’s When Icicles Hang, complete with wintry textures and fifteenth-century verse. After the interval, the orchestra showed themselves in robust form in Bernstein’s Overture to ‘West Side Story’ complete with lusty cries of ‘Mambo!’ emphatically delivered by the players.

The final piece, Walton’s Suite from Henry V included seasoned Shakespearian actor Simon Paisley Day, who held the audience’s rapt attention in various speeches from the Bard’s play, concluding with a rousing Agincourt carol with the Chorus.

Both Orchestra and Chorus return in March with Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Tchaikovsky’s yearning Sixth Symphony, performed in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 25 March.