Sir John Tavener, who passed away at the age of 69 on Tuesday, will have one of his last compositions – Three Shakespeare Sonnets – premiered by the South Iceland Chamber Choir at Southwark Cathedral this evening (November 15, 2013). 

Before he died, Tavener wrote, 'The Three Shakespeare Sonnets  were one of the first works that I composed after serious illness in 2007. I wanted to pay tribute to my wife, Maryanna, who nursed me back to some degree of health, so I turned to the Shakespeare Sonnets and was delighted to find that they brought forth music once again, after having been silent for so long.' 

The concert also includes Tavener's The Lamb, Iero Oniro, Schoun Hymnen, Song for Athene and Lord's Prayer alongside the world premiere of Jack White's Islands and choral works by various Icelandic composers. For ticket information, click here.

The concert will be recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio 3's The Choir programme on Sunday at 4pm (and on the BBC iPlayer for seven days thereafter). And Tom Service will be presenting one of Sir John's final interviews tomorrow afternoon at 12.15pm on BBC Radio 3's Music Matters programme. You can hear a brief clip from the interview below: