Anna Meredith – Nautilus
George Butterworth – Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Madeleine Dring – Take, O Take Those Lips Away, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Ina Boyle – The Joy of Earth, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Ruth Gipps – The Pulley, orchestrated by Roderick Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony No. 6

St Paul’s Church, Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith W6 9PJ
21 March 2026, 7.30pm

Marc Dooley conductor
Tom Evans leader
William Semple baritone 

Tickets £14, under-18s £9. Booking fees apply.

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“Pure maximalist mayhem” is how GQ described Anna Meredith’s Nautilus, an exhilarating fanfare originally written for electronics in 2011. It has since appeared in numerous film and television soundtracks. This orchestral version was premiered in 2021.

Up-and-coming young baritone William Semple joins us to perform a selection of songs from Britain and Ireland orchestrated by celebrated singer and composer Roderick Williams.

Written in the aftermath of the Second World War, Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 6 is a work of immense emotional force. The conductor Leopold Stokowski wrote: “in this Symphony the world of music has a true picture of today, expressing the turmoil, the dark despair, the aspiration of an ideal future. Every listener will find his own meaning in the unique finale of this Symphony – one of the most profound expressions in all music.”

Baritone William Semple has recently completed his master’s studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with distinction under the tutelage of Iain Paton and Cameron Burns, where he was supported by the RCS Trust. During his time at RCS, he performed the role of Zalzal in the RCS Opera School’s production of Chabrier’s L’étoile and also featured as bass soloist in Mozart‘s Requiem. Other operatic roles include 1st Mate Billy Budd, Zaretsky & Captain Eugene Onegin and Junius The Rape of Lucretia. Recent engagements include Judas & Pontifex 2 St. Matthew Passion at the Edinburgh International Festival with the BBC SSO conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, Eugene Onegin for Hampstead Garden Opera, in which he covered the title role and cover Don Magnifico La Cenerentola for Hurn Court Opera. William will join the Savonlinna Opera Festival Chorus and the Opera Holland Park Chorus this summer, and continues his studies with Robert Dean.

Illustration by Caroline Whitehead