Watford Philharmonic joins forces  with St Albans Symphony Orchestra, St Albans Chamber Choir, and the Royal Academy of Music Brass Ensemble in the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban.

Commemorating the historic role of  St Albans Abbey in the development of Magna Carta, this musical celebration of Human Rights and Freedoms includes Aaron Copland's popular Fanfare for the Common Man; Howard Hanson's Song of Human Rights written to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and Gustav Mahler's mighty Second Symphony, marking the composer's lifelong view of the beauty of life.

In AD 1215 many of the nobles in England who were tired of losing their power, and who were concerned by the tyrant-like behaviour of King John, came together and wrote a document called the Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter).

Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in history. It guaranteed the people certain rights, and bound the king to certain laws. The nobles forced King John to sign it, on the threat of civil war. Their intention was to protect the rights of nobles but, in time, the rights established by Magna Carta were also extended to commoners.

The Abbey and town of St Albans played a key role in the development of Magna Carta, with the first Council of Nobles being held in the Abbey in August 1213. It was during this Council that the first draft of Magna Carta was produced. The Magna Carta Celebration Concert commemorates the historic role of St Albans with a musical celebration of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Aaron Copland's popular Fanfare for the Common Man, scored for brass and percussion, was written in 1942 as a celebration of democracy. Our concert opens with a performance by the Royal Academy of Music Brass Ensemble.
Howard Hanson, an American composer and conductor, wrote Song of Human Rights for choir and orchestra in 1963 to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which had been adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Gustav Mahler's mighty Second Symphony, first performed in 1895, marks the composer's lifelong view of the beauty of life. Scored for large orchestra and choir with solo soprano and mezzo-soprano, it was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime.

SARA JONSSON - Soprano - was born in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. After working as an organist and violinist while still at school, she went to Kapellsbergs Musikskola, Härnösand, Sweden, taking triple principal studies in voice, violin and piano. She was frequently employed as an organist and violin soloist as well as playing in several orchestras, including in a professional production of Carmen in collaboration with  Den Norske Opera. In 1993 and 1994 she received youth scholarships from the Royal Academy in Stockholm for vocal studies.

From 1996 to 2000 she studied singing in the UK at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Initially training as a mezzo, she there sang principal roles such as Giulio Cesare (Giulio Cesare), Florence Pike (Albert Herring) and Athamas (Semele). She won several song prizes and awards at the Conservatoire, including the John Ireland Prize and the Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize, and graduated in 2000 with a First Class Bachelor of Music (Honours).

In the same year she won the all-inclusive Weingarten scholarship for vocal postgraduate studies at the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest. In 2001–2002 she was awarded a scholarship from the Hungarian Ministry of Education for a second year at the Academy, continuing her studies with Hungary’s leading performer of contemporary music, Professor Erika Sziklay.

Sara has participated in master-classes with, among others Philip Langridge CBE, (London Master Classes, 2004), Julius Drake, Malcolm Martineau (Symphony Hall, 1998), Nicholas Cleobury, Sarah Walker, Petra Lang, Robin Bowman, Nicoletta Conti, David Syrus and Ingrid Surgenor. During the London Master Classes she also sang Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with London Soloists Chamber Orchestra as part of the conducting class with Benjamin Zander.

Furthermore, she directed her first full opera in February 2008, when The Oxford Opera Company performed Britten's The Turn of the Screw.

Principal roles include Freia and Wellgunde Das Rheingold, Countess, The Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte, The Governess, The Turn of the Screw, Lady Billows, Albert Herring, The Witch, Hansel and Gretel and Judit, Duke Bluebeard's Castle, as well as scenes from Tosca, Don Carlo, Pagliacci, Peter Grimes and Eugene Onegin.

Sara was chosen as one of six finalist in the Wagner Society's Bayreuth Bursary for young Wagnerian singers in 2009.

She is currently through to the third stage of the BBC Radio 2 Opera Competition 'The Kiri Prize' and will take part in a master class with Dame Kiri te Kanawa on 12 April in the Royal College of Music.

JEANETTE AGER - Mezzo-soprano - was awarded an Exhibition to study at the Royal Academy of Music where she won numerous prizes. She is now continuing her studies with Linda Esther Gray.

Jeanette has won the Gold Medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, the Richard Tauber Prize for Singing and an award from the Tillett Trust Young Artist Platform.

As a soloist, Jeanette's concert and oratorio work has included: recitals and other appearances at the Wigmore Hall; Handel’s Messiah at St David’s Hall, Cardiff; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Tippett’s Child of our Time at Salisbury Cathedral; Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Barbican Concert Hall and the Missa Solemnis at York Minster, Truro and Exeter Cathedral. In addition to performances at many of the leading venues in the United Kingdom, Jeanette's concert work has taken her to Bermuda, the Czech Republic, Spain and China

Her operatic roles have included Cherubino in the Marriage of Figaro, (Mozart); Dido in Dido & Aeneas, (Purcell); The Marquise of Birkenfield in La Fille du Regiment (Donizetti); Rosina in The Barber of Seville (Rossini) both for Swansea City Opera and Thea in The Knot Garden (Tippett). With the Royal Opera House she appeared as one of the Apprentices in Wagner's Meistersinger at Covent Garden.

As a soloist, Jeanette has recorded for Hyperion, Deutsche Grammophon and Philips. Future events include Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the RPO; Mahler,s 2nd Symphony at the Bridgewater Hall and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Eton College, Eton.

Jeanette is part of the Artists in Residence Scheme at Queens University in Belfast where she regularly visits to perform recitals and to work with the students.