Overview

Whispering Woods has now been rescheduled to take place this September at Bignor Park, a privately owned estate situated in beautiful and unspoilt surroundings at the foot of the South Downs, within the new South Downs National Park.

Whispering Woods will bring together singers of all ages, in specially created choirs from across West Sussex as well as the Glendale children and young people’s choir. Together they will give a unique experience of the West Sussex landscape at Bignor, allowing audiences to enjoy the beautiful grounds and breathtaking views against a soundtrack of a cappella song.

Bignor Park is a twelve hundred acre, privately owned estate, as with West Dean, situated in beautiful and unspoilt surroundings at the foot of the South Downs, with its own majestic but with an understated style, and a quirky rugged charm. We will be using eleven acres of grounds and gardens to include the Greek Loggia, formal gardens, sweeping lawns with breathtaking views, the Temple, the calming Zen pond and of course some woods!

We are grateful to both Bignor Park for embracing the event at short notice and to West Dean who fully support the change of venue, having been able to accommodate us in the Arboretum during our festival period.

The performance will begin just as the sun starts to set, and the musical programme will include special Whispering Woods commissions, Goro Le by iconic Bulgarian composer Kiril Todorov, and White Stars, Green Leaves by award-winning Sussex-born young composer Lynne Plowman, with special arrangements of two English folk songs by folk doyenne Anna Tabbush. Whispering Woods will also include the world premiere of a new commission from the composer Ned Bigham, based on the 18th century sonnets of Charlotte Smith, which were written at Bignor Park, which will be sung by the University of Chichester choir. There will be plenty to see as well as hear, with two life-size puppet horses, created by Paul McLaren of Shademakers, as well as a fire-garden, created by Paul Harrington, along with some pyrotechnics to bring the evening to a close.

The event is part of the Ahead of the Game Festival, the culmination of four years of cultural events in West Sussex inspired by the London 2012 Games, and is supported by West Sussex Arts Partnership and Arts Council England.