‘Postcards from Winter’ for Egham Choral

Winter arrives in many different forms: in the landscape, in memory, in solitude, in the changing weather around us. Postcards from Winter is a new set of three choral works for Egham Choral Society, bringing together three poets connected by the landscape of the Thames Valley, from the seventeenth century to the present day.

The first movement draws on Sir John Denham's Cooper's Hill, written while Denham was living in Egham. Clouds, cold, snow and water become part of a meditation on the opposing forces that sustain the natural world, ending with the image of snow dissolving and the river overflowing the surrounding plains.

The central movement sets Langspiel by Penelope Shuttle, born in Staines. Here winter becomes more intimate: sorrow, solitude and hard work exist alongside the golden cliff and sunlit tide line, with the recurring voice of the harp at its centre. The poem's refrain, "New lamps for old", becomes a meditation on change, endurance and the continual exchange between old and new.

The final movement is George Meredith's Winter Heavens, written during his years on Box Hill. A frost-sharp night and a sky alive with stars lead towards reflections on mortality, memory and the soul, ending in a vision of radiance and spiritual haven.

Three poets. Three centuries. Three views of winter, all drawn from the same corner of the landscape.

Postcards from Winter receives its world premiere from Egham Choral Society on 19 December 2026 at the Chapel of Royal Holloway, with Cecily Beer (harp) and Hugh Beckwith conducting.

When can i hear this being performed live?

For more information about when you can hear this in concert, please visit this webpage (link embedded)

More information about Postcards from winter

For full information about this new work, please visit this dedicated webpage. (lInk embedded)