St Edmund’s School Canterbury is delighted to announce that its annual Gala Concert on 7^th March will be in support of the Kent Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre. The Gala Concert takes place in the splendour of Canterbury Cathedral and will mark the launch of MS awareness week (29 April – 5 May), with all profits going towards the centre’s £1.3m Butterfly Appeal for its much needed new building in Canterbury.

This annual coming together of the School’s Chapel Choir, Choral Society and Cathedral Choristers will feature a performance of Duruflé’s delicate and moving Requiem with professional soloists Catherine Futcher and Greg Tassell.

Catherine Futcher, a Junior School Music Teacher at St Edmund’s and mother of three, is an MS sufferer and knows just how much the new building is vital for the therapy centre.  There is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis but the Kent MS Therapy Centre provides a wide range of therapies and support which help improve the quality of life of those with MS and their families.

Catherine told us “When the New Building Appeal was launched last year I knew I wanted to organise a fund-raising concert. It was wonderful when St Edmund’s offered to support the appeal with their annual Gala Concert. I am really looking forward to performing this beautiful work, in this beautiful location, for a charity that has such a profound impact on MS patients and their families.”  Catherine’s son James, a chorister of Canterbury Cathedral, will also be performing in the concert.

Director of Music, Will Bersey, said “It is a huge pleasure to support such a good cause in this concert, and one so close to our hearts at St Edmund’s. Duruflé’s Requiem is such an emotive work and a very fitting composition to mark the end of this poignant concert with. The coming together of so many singers and instrumentalists, some from the school, and others members of the Canterbury and Kent community, makes this project particularly exciting, both from a musical perspective and, of course, in the way that so many people are combining in support of one great cause.”

Additional orchestral items in the  concert programme celebrate the talents the St Edmund’s Upper Sixth instrumentalists, including Sibelius’ Violin Concerto (Ana Vandepeer, violin) and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (George Inscoe, piano). The St Edmund’s Symphony Orchestra will also be joined by members of the English Chamber Orchestra.

There is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis but the Kent MS Therapy Centre provides a wide range of therapies and support which help improve the quality of life of those with MS and their families.  Find out more about the charity and the appeal www.kentmstc.org.uk.

Gala Concert tickets (£9/£6 conc.) are available from the St Edmund’s Box Office on 01227 475600 or boxoffice@stedmunds.org.uk alternatively tickets can be purchased direct from the Kent Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre on 01227 470876.