Recent events!

Autumn Concert - Messiah - 10th November 2007. We presented Handel's Messiah on Saturday 10th November at 7pm, at St Andrews Church Coulsdon, with the help of some extra people attracted by our Come and Sing posters. We hope some of these will stay as members! To support the activities of the Royal British Legion and remembering past sacrifices for our freedom, we wore poppies, a collection tin was available for all. **UPDATE** - I am delighted to advise you that the total raised by choir and audience at this concert was £71.76. Many thanks to you all! Summer Concert 23rd June 2007 If you came, you had a treat of a concert – the PA Hall in Chipstead rang to the laughter of the audience as we served up a feast of retro and old-fashioned pieces; a light, informal style and music from 30’s to 50’s, poetry both new and old, Flanders and Swann, and a lovely bit of visual comedy from young Jim during Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, a tribute to the smoking ban of 1st July made the event a really informal, friendly and pleasant event, at least we hope so. A delicious buffet rounded off a lovely evening and it was great to see new faces and old friends. Incidentally - I wonder how many of you spotted the bats flying low over the pond afterwards? Please email and let me know your feedback, opinions and thoughts on this format and genre, we’d like to find out what you think. All opinions will be kept anonymous! Spring Concert 24th March 2007 A very full and varied (chronologically and stylistically) programme, of English Music through the ages. The lovely and soothing Mass for Four Voices by Byrd (renaissance) was divided into three parts so we could contrast it with more modern music (not difficult since Byrd composed in the 16th Century… Most of you will recognise ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ by Howard Goodall (born 1958) as the theme music to the Vicar of Dibley – but you won’t know the whole piece, which was very well received. Back a few decades to Charles Wood (roughly Victorian) and O Thou the Central Orb, a lovely soaring anthem, and then back to the Credo of the Byrd. Definitely the most complex to sing, so apologies for some minor errors. After the Credo we heard some Stainer (early Victorian) and Howells (died 1983) and an excellent Fantasia in G by Byrd on the organ. Thank you, Nicholas O’Neill. Edward Elgar’s ‘Give Unto the Lord’ was a really lovely uplifting piece, (Edwardian) with a few echoes of the Dream of Gerontius, one of his major works; this was followed with Stanford’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Victorian) and the far less well-known Bainton’s ‘And I Saw a New Heaven’ (1930s) – words from Revelations. It was a pleasure to sing. Nicholas O’Neill then introduced us to Herbert Howells’ organ music and I agree with him, that he hearkens back to earlier styles of music – his ‘Master Tallis’ Testament’ sits very well with the 16th Century Byrd music. Finally we sang several pieces of Bob Chilcott’s latest choral composition (composed 1995; Bob is very much still alive and well) – Singing By Numbers. Notable among these is ‘The Singing of Birds’ a strikingly lovely setting of a Siegfried Sassoon poem ( First World War) It is so lovely I reproduce it here. Everyone suddenly burst out singing; And I was filled with such delight As prisoned birds must find in freedom Winging wildly across the white Orchard and dark-green fields; on; on; and out of sight. Everyone’s voice was suddenly lifted, And beauty came like the setting sun. My heart was shaken with tears; and horror Drifted away … O but every one Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done. So we sang through from renaissance William Byrd to modern Chilcott, taking in Elgar and several familiar church anthems along the way. A dazzling array of styles, emotions and composers, which could be considered a thorough introduction to English choral music. I know two of these, Wood and Stanford, were Irish, but the style of music they composed can be included in this span of centuries. Although the audience was not as large as we had hoped, it was clear from their faces, applause and comments, that they had really enjoyed this concert, and we hope they will return with their friends for our next concert on 23rd June at the PA Hall in Chipstead. Christmas Concert 16th December 2006 Our Christmas Concert this year was Haydn's St Nicholas Mass, which got better and better as we went on; congratulations to the organist Joe Ramadan who played well, despite having a frozen finger! Most of us will have sung O Little Town of Bethlehem, not many of us are used to singing O Men from the Fields, or the charming Linden Tree Carol. While the men clearly relished singing about the "reek of the smoke" or the fact that they’ve "got a little ratchen skin" purse; the women found it harder to rhyme "the master and the mistress too," with "All the little children that round the table….go"! Oh well. It was supposed to be sung in Yorkshire dialect, and it is a very ancient carol. Despite these minor peculiarities it was an enjoyable evening, and the audience didn’t seem to mind being bullied fiercely by Jo to “sing up!” – I guess it was quite a treat for them to be personally invited to show their skills, and I hope one or two of them may fancy the other side of the stage in the future… I am also pleased to recount that those of us who braved the fog, sang with great gusto at Gatwick airport for several local charities, and made a good showing. We were collecting for the RNIB, for local hospice St Catherine’s www.stch.co.uk and for Gatwick Travelcare (which takes care of travellers who fall ill). Please come and join us at out next concert on 23th March at St Andrews Church, Woodcote Grove Road, Coulsdon CR5 2DD. Durufle Requiem & Poulenc Gloria 4th Nov 2006 As a choir we had not before performed the Durufle, and therefore were somewhat anxious to do justice to this beautiful work. The concert however proved to be very popular and we hope you all enjoyed M.Durufle's soothing and beautiful polyphonic style, and Poulenc's exciting range of styles. We had the benefit of 3 very good musicians joining us, Rosie Bell (soprano), Richard Bannan (Baritone) and Nicholas O'Neill on the organ and piano. The fireworks and bangers outside only rarely troubled the atmosphere inside, one pair of bangs in fact being exactly in tempo at the end of one section! I hope you all enjoyed this concert and the effort we all put into it, and hope that the next one is as enjoyable. Spring Concert 2006 - Haydn's Nelson Mass & Bruckner The Chandos Spring 2006 concert was one of our best yet, a fact remarked on by many of our regular audience-members as they enjoyed their interval drinks sociably. Haydn’s huge Mass in D minor, known as the "Nelson", is quite dark and serious in style, often punctuated with stark energy, and the Chandos choir performed superbly. Our thanks go to Jen McCrea for finding such a high quality orchestra and the soloists too were of very good standard. The unaccompanied Bruckner Motets we also performed really well and a frisson of excitement went around the audience as the choir performed to a really high standard. Concert 15th October 2005 - Brahms & Buffet! Our Autumn concert went really well - the Brahms Requiem, and it was good to be back at lovely St Andrew's Church, Woodmansterne Road, Coulsdon at 7.30pm. After the concert we adjourned to the hall, where we were greeted with a huge buffet supper for the choir and audience. The atmosphere was great! Congratulations and all best wishes go to Sheila and Martin Burl, who got married on Saturday 5th November 2005. It was a lovely day, bright and clear, and the choir was delighted to be invited to sing both Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine, and How Beautiful are thy Dwellings Fair from Brahms' Requiem. It is always lovely to go to a wedding where you know both bride and groom, but how wonderful it is when you can see how happy they are together. We wish them every success and a happy life together.