Libera Dreams

Perhaps it is time to open a new topic for the concert in Ely Cathedral, now scheduled on Saturday 21st May 2022 at 7:30 pm.

The concert is announced on the Events page on the official Libera site since a couple of months.



As we all know, the concert was postponed several times, due to the difficulties created by the Covid context.
The concert first appeared on 10th January 2020 (read here) for a performance set on 6th June 2020.
Then it went postponed to 28th October 2020, then postponed again to 24th April 2021, and finally postponed to Saturday 21st May 2022.

The tickets that were already sold for the 1st date were also postponed at first, then they went cancelled when the concert was postponed for the last time .
New tickets will be required for the 2022 concert.


So far the concert is not yet published on the Ely Cathedral events page.

Should we be worried about a new postponement?
Difficult to say, but for my part I am confident.

First, if the concert should be held tomorrow, technically it could be.
Shows are permitted and we were fortunate to have a concert no later than last week.
Can the situation deteriorate between now and May?
Sure it can, but she can improve as well, and at the moment it is already better than it was on the previous concert dates.

Second, we have a good reference as example: the cathedral site offers another concert, by Aled Jones, scheduled for the month of March 2022.
This concert was also scheduled for 2020, a few days before the Libera concert, before to be also postponed.
The fact that this 2022 concert from Aled is still proposed on the site is a good sign.
This shows that both the organizer of Aled's tour and those in charge of the cathedral are confident the situation will be acceptable enough to receive the public.

May is still a relatively long time away. To what extent the Omicron variant or newer variants of the Coronavirus will affect the situation is not yet foreseeable.

For this reason, I am not yet concerned about whether the concert will take place or not. I wouldn't want to book hotel and flights until mid-April at the earliest.

Hoping very much that it happens and that I may be able to attend. At present I'm very tentatively planning on maybe going if the conditions are right and finances allow.

Before this concert, there will probably be some memorial event for Robert. St. Philip's Facebook page said it should happen sometime in the Spring. I suppose we can start a new topic for that one when an official announcement is made.

I was just thinking ... if there is a memorial event for Robert, shouldn't we - as fans - do something too (flowers/card/?)?

bachmahlerfan wrote: ↑<span title="Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:50 am">2 years ago</span> Before this concert, there will probably be some memorial event for Robert. St. Philip's Facebook page said it should happen sometime in the Spring. I suppose we can start a new topic for that one when an official announcement is made.

Errrrr....

Did you know you can purchase your ticket right now ???? I just booked mine, utterly bemused... The Libera concert not only appears on Ely's website but the sales are opened.

This is such a surprise. A good one since I guess the concert is happening (and yet the pandemic is out of control). But also... not a good one ? There was not announcement, sure they did not get to manage the rush but us fans sure would have liked to be prepared. And Libera has not communicated on this ? I almost feel like this is an error and the booking I made is not going to last.

EDIT :

Libera just posted a tweet about it ! Hurry everyone I was SO LUCKY OMG !

oh heck and hellfire, that caught me by surprise!! I only saw it when I got back from the gym. See what being healthy does! It makes you almost miss out on Libera tickets!! Got a decent seat though. *phew*

A very strange way to announce it. There was already a good many tickets sold by the time I took a look and a surprising number of standard seats sold when there were still decent premiums left.

It is possible it was deliberate to avoid the opening rush. If I remember right, Ely a few years ago was one of the booking sites that fell over quite spectacularly as a result of the Libera fan rush...

annoying for fans though...

Yorkie wrote: ↑<span title="Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:56 pm">2 years ago</span> A very strange way to announce it. There was already a good many tickets sold by the time I took a look and a surprising number of standard seats sold when there were still decent premiums left.

I will hazard a guess and say parents had access before everybody else as way too many tickets sold within the first 15 minutes considering so few people knew.

Yes, the Ely website wasn't the greatest. I've been on both sides of that having had terrible tickets one time and then last time fantastic ones (which were then cancelled of course )

dani wrote: ↑<span title="Wed Jan 05, 2022 5:06 pm">2 years ago</span>

Yorkie wrote: ↑<span title="Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:56 pm">2 years ago</span> A very strange way to announce it. There was already a good many tickets sold by the time I took a look and a surprising number of standard seats sold when there were still decent premiums left.

I will hazard a guess and say parents had access before everybody else as way too many tickets sold within the first 15 minutes considering so few people knew.

Well yes I booked my ticket even before Libera posted on Twitter and there already were many tickets sold, mostly standard seats but also premium ones. I was there by coincidence (luck, destiny, whatever) and I can't imagine so many people were as coincidently lucky. I think families is a good guess, but maybe people from Ely cathedral too ?

And I agree it might have been on purpose, to avoid the rush.

I'm afraid that I can't commit to obtaining tickets to a concert in England at this time. There is just no telling what the state of things will be that far in the future. If we're lucky Omicron will have blown over and the Covid pandemic will finally be over... more or less. A year ago I was sure that the pandemic would be over within 6 to 9 months. That didn't work out, so I'm going to wait until I plan overseas trips.

The Ely Box Office website of the Libera concert shows a glance on the programme I have only noticed today. Don't know if it was there before:
https://www.elycathedral.org/events/libera

It announces:

"Saint-Saens Bacchanale from Samson and Dalila
Beethoven 9th Symphony
Vivaldi Nisi Dominus
Schubert Ave Maria

Plus songs from their latest album, IF."

Saint-Saëns's Bacchanale!

filiarheni wrote: ↑<span title="Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:46 pm">2 years ago</span> The Ely Box Office website of the Libera concert shows a glance on the programme I have only noticed today. Don't know if it was there before:
https://www.elycathedral.org/events/libera

It announces:

"Saint-Saens Bacchanale from Samson and Dalila
Beethoven 9th Symphony
Vivaldi Nisi Dominus
Schubert Ave Maria

Plus songs from their latest album, IF."

Saint-Saëns's Bacchanale!

Wow, a bacchanale inside a Cathedral? The tabloids will have a field day with that! I'm joking of course. I would imagine that the melody which is first introduced at the 2:21 mark will feature prominently in their arrangement. However, the happy theme may be included as well. Beyond that, I'm not going to try guessing how much of the other music will be included. I wonder what the choreography will be like for such a wild piece?