Buckingham Palace announces Coronation Composers

Buckingham Palace has revealed the names of the composers commissioned to write new pieces for the coronation of King Charles III.

The diverse list includes music from legendary theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who will write a new Coronation Anthem, and a new Coronation March from Patrick Doyle, best known for his works for film, including a number of collaborations with Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Carlito's Way and Gosford Park).

There will be a celebration of musical themes from across the Commonwealth in a new work for organ by Iain Farrington, as well as other new pieces by Master of the King’s Music Judith Weir, Debbie Wiseman, Roderick Williams, Shirley J. Thompson, Roxanna Panufnik, Tarik O’Regan, Paul Mealor, Nigel Hess and Sarah Class.

There will also be nods to King Charles’s long association with Wales, with performances by royal harpist Alis Huws and music by Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins. Some of the liturgy will also be performed in Welsh.

New and old music

These modern pieces will, of course, be performed alongside works traditionally associated with royal coronations. These will include Handel’s Zadok the Priest and C.H.H Parry’s I Was Glad, with its central ‘Vivats’ sung by the King’s Scholars at Westminster School. And almost certain to make an appearance will be Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches No.1 and No.4, Walton’s Crown Imperial and Te Deum and Holst’s Jupiter. Other pieces are less easy to predict but, given their presence in the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, do not be surprised to hear Purcell’s Trumpet Tune, Elgar’s Nimrod, Vaughan Williams arrangement of Greensleeves , Orlando Gibbons’ O Clap Your Hands Together and William Byrd’s I Will Not Leave You Comfortless. There is certain also to be some rousing performances of God Save the King.