Concert Diary: A Night at Sea

A Night at Sea is a concert in Bristol Cathedral. A sea-themed concert that contained the world premiere of Bright’s The Lighthouse, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, and Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony. Bristol, the harbour, the seagulls, and a sea concert—all fitting together perfectly.

Besides being an audience member, I was also honoured to be a backstage wardrobe assistant for my friend Rebecca, the soloist for Elgar’s Sea Pictures. This piece is the crown of the concert. While I might be biased because Rebecca is my dear friend, just interview the other audience members from that night. I am pretty sure everyone would agree. Elgar and Rebecca were so amazing together. I love the instrumentation and the poetic melody lines that were performed wonderfully by Rebecca, it was an enchanting sea I heard.

I was bursting with anticipation to be one of the first audience members to hear Bright’s The Lighthouse, a compact piece that expressed different moods of the sea with HOPE on the horizon. Beautiful.

Talking about Ralph Vaughan Williams, his The Lark Ascending is the piece that immediately comes to my mind, especially the performance by Hilary Hahn (you can listen to this on YouTube, link at the bottom of this post). Therefore, I had not predicted his Sea Symphony could be so gigantic, massive, and explosive. Of course, the sea can be calm and can be fierce too. But with Tom Gauterin as our captain holding the baton, despite the turbulent waves, we arrived safely and peacefully at our destination.

Right after all the applause died down, an audience member sitting in front of me asked: “I feel the organ, but I’m not quite sure if I heard it.” The audience member next to him pointed at me: “Ask her, she is an organist, she might know.” Which I didn’t know and couldn’t even feel, really—a big disappointment. The audience member flipped through the programme notes, “See! There is an organist, it’s stated here. And I feel the deep sound vibration of the organ.”

Then both of us saw the conductor and asked him. He answered: “Yes, here is the organist!” Paul Walton turned. “But where is the organ?” I asked. And it was very nice of him to show me where the organ is located. It is behind the altar and the choir room; you unlock the door, walk into a cabinet, and go upstairs. According to him, the organ was freshly restored in September 2025. From the cathedral website:

“This Walker organ survives today, standing as one of the last examples of its kind and period in the country, and as one of the finest examples of the English Romantic organ in the world.”

There is a very exciting event coming up as part of The Grand Organ Festival on November 28, 2026. Do check out their website, link at the bottom of this blog.

At home, Rebecca sent me the Sea Pictures score by Elgar. I read the poems and I am playing with the idea of playing this on the organ. For that, I would need a mezzo-soprano or a contralto to sing with the organ. Maybe one day.

I love how my travels inspire my artistic journey.

Note:
Thank you for being here. I travel to various places and bring you stories. If you like my blog and want to show some love, you can buy me a cup of coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/thejourneywriter

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More music:
The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams performed by Hilary Hahn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOWN5fQnzGk

Sea Pictures Op. 37 by Edward Elgar

Performed by Janet Baker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GauIMo8Manc
Performed by Yvonne Minton
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kJ4-1DPYeDGF2AMk2zg787SIzjZCkCYW8

Event:
The Grand Organ Festival Bristol Cathedral
https://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/whats-on/the-grand-organ-festival/

Concert Info:
A Night at Sea| Bristol Cathedral | Saturday 27th June, 2026
Bristol Classical Players
Bristol Phoenix Choir & Guests
Mezzo-Soprano: Rebecca Chellappah (Elgar)
Soprano: Chloé Underwood (Vaughan Williams)
Baritone: Malachy Frame (Vaughan Williams)
Conductor: Tom Gauterin
Leader: Anneka Sutcliffe
Programme:
Bright: The Lighthouse (World Premiere)
Elgar: Sea Pictures
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony

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