World premiere choral work inspired by Exeter’s weather story to debut at the Cathedral

Exeter Philharmonic Choir will open its 2025/26 season with the world premiere of a major new choral work linking music, meteorology and the city’s unique role as the home of the UK’s Met Office.

The piece, The Weather Book by award-winning British composer Cecilia McDowall, will receive its first full performance at Exeter Cathedral on Saturday 8 November.

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The twenty-minute work for choir, soprano soloist and chamber orchestra draws inspiration from the history of weather science and meteorology, including Exeter’s connection to Captain Robert FitzRoy, the founder of the Met Office.

The commission is a collaboration between Exeter Philharmonic Choir and Swedish chamber choir Gustaf Vasa Kammarkör, which performed the first movement, Celsius Rising, earlier this year in Stockholm.

Swedish soprano Agnes Auer will travel to Exeter to perform the world premiere of the completed work.

McDowall worked with poet and librettist Kate Wakeling to create the text, which references key figures in climate and weather science.

These include Swedish scientist Anders Celsius, 19th-century American scientist Eunice Newton Foote, and FitzRoy himself, whose 1863 book The Weather Book helped establish the practice of systematic weather forecasting.

The concert programme also features Poulenc’s Gloria, Vaughan Williams’ Toward the Unknown Region, and Brahms’ Tragic Overture and Alto Rhapsody.

The choir will be joined by the Bristol Ensemble and guest soloists including sopranos Seohyun Go and Cecily Shaw.

Ahead of the performance, a free pre-concert talk will be held at the Devon and Exeter Institution. McDowall will be joined by Professor Penny Endersby, Chief Executive of the Met Office and Canon Scientist at Exeter Cathedral, to discuss the new commission.

The Met Office will also display historic weather-related documents from its archives, including pages from FitzRoy’s original Weather Book.

Professor Endersby, who was awarded a CBE last year for services to meteorology, said the project resonated strongly with her: “I was particularly struck by the focus on Robert FitzRoy and Eunice Foote, who’s a great heroine of mine.

As both a scientist and a singer, I was keen to support this collaboration in any way I could.”

Exeter Philharmonic Choir’s musical director Howard Ionascu said: “This is a very exciting commission for the choir. It’s a challenging and inspiring new work, and we look forward to bringing it to life here in Exeter, in the city that is home to the Met Office.”

The concert begins at 7.30pm on 8 November at Exeter Cathedral.

Tickets and booking information, including for the limited-capacity pre-concert talk, are available from tickets@exeterphilharmonic.org.uk .