Aeterna caeli gloria

Jackson's Aeterna Caeli Gloria was a highlight of the 2007 festival service on 21 November.

Autorentext
One of Britain's foremost composers, after three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Gabriel Jackson went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. From 2010-2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. In 2014 his hour-long The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford, was premiered in its chapel. May 2015 saw the premiere at the Latvian National Opera of Spring Rounds for soprano, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Riga-based youth choir Kamer for their 25th anniversary. He was recently commissioned by The Marian Consort to write Stabat Mater to mark their 10th anniversary.

Zusammenfassung
This dramatic setting of a 5th-century Ambrosian hymn perfectly epitomises the jubilation of the text. Rhythmically complex and involving some tricky melismatic passages, it is particularly suited to cathedral choirs and concert performance. In the composer's words: "Being optimistic by nature, I am very drawn to radiant, lightfilled texts, with their invitation to try and create a dazzling brightness of choral sound. The opening of Aeterna caeli gloria attempts such a fierce brilliance." Commissioned by the Musicians Benevolent Fund in the name of Sir Thomas Armstrong and first performed at the Festival of Saint Cecilia Service in Westminster Abbey on 21 November 2007 by the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, and St Paul's Cathedral, under the direction of James O'Donnell.