Musical Director's reportDear Singers I would like to say how thrilling you sounded at our spring concert. I very pleased with your energy, clear diction and accurate tuning; the quiet passages were well supported and sensitively sung. It was lovely to listen back to, and we can all be proud of what we achieved. It was a challenging term: the music was complex and COVID meant that people missed rehearsals or had to pull out of the concert. To cap all that the organ decided to have a rather large wobble on the day but I was impressed with how professionally you responded to this. We had a very short rehearsal on the day (50 minutes is the shortest ever) to keep us fresh for the concert, and I hope you all agree that it was a good decision. So, well done. Here's what you sounded like:
Our summer concert includes Rheinberger’s scrumptious Mass in E-flat, rescheduled form April 2020. This piece seems to be going through a popular phase at the moment, so we need to do it better than the other choirs who are performing it. Coupled with that we will sing the set of 5 spirituals from Tippet’s oratorio, A Child of our Time, a piece very much of our time, the oratorio was inspired in 1938 by the shooting by 17 year-old boy of a Nazi diplomat in Paris, and the ‘Kristallnacht’ pogrom in Germany that followed. The 5 spirituals in the oratorio are symbolic of oppressed people around the world, and their quest for peace. They are the peace, calm and reflection in an otherwise stormy work. We will also be including some short works by Vaughan Williams in the programme to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. Following this beautiful concert, we will be once again having a choir barbecue in the church garden, so please bring your friends and family to what will be a lovely summer’s evening of music, food and socialising. Thank you for all your hard work last term, I hope it was as rewarding and satisfying for you as it was for me, and see you all on Thursday. Phiroz |