Goblin Market

Corra Sound and the Great Little Orchestra will perform Ruth Gipps' stunning setting of Christina Rosetti's remarkable poem Goblin Market.

Corra Sound (directed by Dr. Amy Bebbington) and the Great Little Orchestra will perform and record Ruth Gipps' Goblin Market and other notable works set to Christina Rossetti texts.

Gipps' score, set to Rossetti's iconic poem of the same name, dramatically illuminates its themes of temptation, desire, sisterly love and female solidarity, sparkling with impassioned and highly characterful motifs, hall-marks of this often overlooked 20th century composer. This will be only its second complete UK performance since it's world premiere 70 years ago.

Ruth Gipps was a pianist, oboist, composer, conductor and educator. An impresario of tireless energy and determination, her music is now seeing a revival. As a response to the rife discrimination against female conductors that Gipps encountered, she founded and directed the London Repertoire Orchestra and the professional Chanticleer Orchestra.

Corra Sound will perform a programme that includes additional choral works and solo songs by Nicola LeFanu, Kari Kruver Medina, Rebecca Clarke, Madeleine Dring, Liza Lehmann and Eric Meyer, almost all of which set texts by Christina Rossetti. In addition, to illuminate the legacy and artistic endeavours of Ruth Gipps, Dr. Victoria Rowe, Gipps' daughter-in-law, will share insights into her extraordinary life. Our recording will take place a week after our concert by the highly respected label, Convivium Records.

The project stands as a threefold celebration of female creativity bringing together the iconic poetry of Christina Rossetti, the masterful and long-overlooked choral writing of Ruth Gipps, and the voices of Corra Sound – an established upper voice British ensemble with a reputation for high quality artistic activity, dedicated to bringing the works of female composers out of the shadows. The aim of this project is to illuminate and preserve a 20th century work of great significance and to encourage equity for female composers, performers and conductors in the international classical music sector.