Concert Details
Walton Double Bill (as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival)
Sat 23 May 2026, 7:30pm
Saint Andrews Hall, Norwich – Venue details
Roderick Williams – baritone
Alex Jennings as Henry V
Norwich Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra
conducted by Matthew Andrews and Ashley Grote
Walton: Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario (arr. Christopher Palmer)
Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast
We are thrilled to announce details of a spectacular performance by the Norwich Phil on Saturday 23rd May in the 2026 Norfolk & Norwich Festival – an exciting double bill of music by Sir William Walton featuring the choir and orchestra as well as two conductors, a star singer and a star actor.
Henry V – A Shakespeare Scenario is a compilation by Christopher Palmer of music Walton wrote for the 1944 Laurence Olivier film of Henry V, together with extensive extracts from Shakespeare’s play. With much more of Walton’s music than appears in the well-known orchestral suite, it features the major speeches from the play which will be performed by Alex Jennings, distinguished Shakespearian actor and star of film and television (The Queen, Lady in the Van, Bridget Jones, The Crown).Walton’s cantata, Belshazzar’s Feast, is one of the great British choral works of the 20th century with huge choruses and thrilling writing for the orchestra. Writing in The Gramophone, Andrew Mellor described it as “wicked, raucous, barbaric and outlandishly exuberant”. Certainly a large orchestra with massive percussion section and the 120 plus voices of the Phil Chorus will make a very big sound – one which scandalised the first audience in 1931. The baritone soloist will be none other than the international opera star, Roderick Williams OBE.
Tickets priced £40, £35 and £25 (£15 and £18 for under 26) are available online at https://nnfestival.org.uk/