80s legend to perform at Salisbury Cathedral
Toyah Willcox will narrate 'Peter and the Wolf' there next month
Veteran pop star Toyah Wilcox is to take part in a special performance at Salisbury Cathedral net month.
The 64 year old will narrate Prokofiev’s fairy tale 'Peter and the Wolf' on Saturday 5th November.
It'll be last concert of the 2022 Organ Festival at the Cathedral, taking place at 2.00pm to allow visitors to still get to local fireworks displays.
Toyah is no stranger to Wiltshire, she lived in Broad Chalke during the 80s and 90s.
She'll help to tell the story of Peter, who takes on a fearsome wolf, accompanied by a duck, a bird and a cat.
Toyah Willcox said:
“When I heard it as a child I was captivated by the way that the orchestra became the cast of animals and I’m really looking forward to see how that's achieved on the organ. I have been practising being the wicked wolf and the heroic Peter at home and I can’t wait to play the parts when I get to the Cathedral.”
John Challenger, Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral will play Prokofiev’s orchestral work on the 140-year-old Father Willis organ on the day.
He said it could be a bit of a tough ask:
“Some of Prokofiev’s sounds are easily found within the organ. We have a beautiful Clarinet stop to depict the cat, and an Oboe stop for the duck. The wolf is a little more complicated. He’ll require a combination of snarly sounds from deep within the organ, so I’ll need to spend some time experimenting.
"But Peter is going to be far and away the most difficult because he is represented by the string instruments and the organ is essentially a ‘wind’ instrument.”
Also in the programme is the final movement of Saint-Saens Third Symphony, used in the much-loved film Babe.