Goblin Market

All-female UK vocal ensemble, Corra Sound, is undertaking an ambitious and deeply significant new project to perform and professionally record Ruth Gipps’ dramatic cantata Goblin Market, inspired by Christina Rossetti’s iconic poem. The live performance will take place on Friday, 3rd July at Holy Trinity Church, Guildford with the programme set to feature additional Rossetti settings by other notable 20th Century composers. A pre-concert conversation with Gipps’ daughter-in-law Dr Victoria Rowe will offer rare insight into the composer’s life.

The landmark recording, partnering with Convivium Records, has arelease date scheduled for the beginning of 2027. Corra Sound has launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the production costs of the performance and recording, inviting the public to contribute to the project, helping to bring this important work to a global audience.

This venture marks the historic and long-awaited world premiere recording of this powerful masterpiece, rich in themes of temptation, sisterhood, and female solidarity, and will be only the second UK performance of the work in 70 years. The project stands as a threefold celebration of female creativity bringing together the iconic poetry of Christina Rossetti, the masterful and long-overlooked choral writing of Ruth Gipps, and the voices of Corra Sound – an upper voice ensemble dedicated to bringing the works of female composers out of the shadows.

“Ruth Gipps was a formidable force – a composer, conductor, and advocate who carved out space for women in a profession that frequently excluded them,” says Dr Amy Bebbington, Corra Sound Founder and Director. “By performing and recording this work, we are not only sharing exceptional music, we are highlighting a lineage of female creativity that has been side-lined for too long. Goblin Market is brimming with colour and emotional intensity. It is a vital piece of our musical heritage that demands to be heard.”

“Corra Sound is an outstanding ensemble, brilliantly led,” says Neil Ferris, Director of the BBC Symphony Chorus. “This project forms an important part of their pioneering mission to uncover new repertoire and celebrate the works of often little-known female composers. The work they do is both ground-breaking and utterly essential to our choral music landscape.”

Dr Leah Broad, award-winning British musicologist says: “Gipps was prodigiously gifted and fearlessly determined and yet the significant impact she had on British music is still yet to be fully realised. This vital project by Corra Sound is a major step towards redressing some of the historical imbalance of our musical heritage and securing Gipps her rightful place in the classical canon.”

The public can help fund the project by visiting https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/corra-sound-gipps-goblin-market
To book tickets to the concert visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/goblin-market-tickets-1985048442327