Sound the Trumpet!
The celebrated Kent-based vocal ensemble Quintus has teamed up with Kent Association for the Blind to put on a fund-raising concert for the Association.
Quintus vocal ensemble
The concert, which will take place at 7.30pm on Saturday 13th November in the magnificent Church of St. Barnabas in Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells, will feature popular choral and orchestral pieces by three giants of baroque music: Purcell, Handel and Bach. Wendy Suffield of Kent Association for the Blind said, "It dawned on us while discussing the concert that Bach and Handel had much more in common than just being born in the same year. We discovered that both composers suffered from increasingly poor eyesight towards the end of their lives and, bizarrely, although living more than 600 miles apart in London and Leipzig, were treated by the same eye doctor, John Taylor."
In both cases Taylor's remedy was unsuccessful and both composers became totally blind. John Taylor was the most famous ophthalmologist of his day and was personal eye surgeon to George II, the Pope and a number of European royal families. He was also a quack whose trick was, after surgery, to tell the patient to leave their eye bandaged for seven days, during which time he would leave town and be as far away as possible when the bandage was removed. Ironically, he himself spent his last years completely blind.
The concert on 13th November is conducted by Steven Devine, one of the most brilliant young conductors and keyboard players in Britain today. He will conduct the orchestra Finchcocks Baroque and Quintus in Purcell's tuneful ode Come Ye Sons of Art, Handel's anthem As Pants the Hart and two of Bach's colourful orchestral suites, one of which includes the famous Air on a G String.
Tickets for the concert are priced £10 (an exclusive offer for members of the Association) and are available by telephoning 01622 358970 (24 hour answerphone).
Note to Editors:
For more information on the work of Kent Association for the Blind please contact Wendy Suffield, Community Fundraising Manager on 01622 691357 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
For more information about Quintus please contact John Marshall on 07815 539924 or visit the choir's website