Pre-Concert Conductor’s Notes
Good evening friends, I hope you’re all well and have had a good start to the week! I trust you all managed to keep relatively cool over the weekend – hottest days of the year (it certainly felt like it on the solstice!).
Below is some information for the concert. You’ll have seen it all in Annabel’s email, but I wanted to reiterate it here.
There are also some important things for the end of term and next year, so do read on!
What we’ve done this term
This term has been such fun, doing all of the different languages and styles of music. We’ve worked really hard on the notes and pronunciation, but if there are any remaining bits you’re not too comfortable with, please put in the work at home over the next few days. It’s imperative on Saturday that we perform the music – they are operatic pieces after all!
Having said that... the most important thing is to have fun! It will all come alive when the orchestra joins us, so I’m really excited to put it all together on Saturday.
A REMINDER THAT ON WEDNESDAY 25TH WE’RE IN DEDDINGTON CHURCH! Do not go to the Town Hall as no-one will be there.
We still have Youth Choir until 7pm, so we’ll need your patience as things are set up once we’re there. I’ll still aim to start the rehearsal at 7:30pm.
Concert Day
From Annabel’s email:
Dress rehearsal – please don’t arrive before 2.00pm as we will still be setting up chairs and staging. The rehearsal will start at 2.15pm. There will be a short break mid-afternoon and the choir will be finished before 5pm (probably around 4.45pm). The orchestra and soloists will continue for a short while after we’re finished.
Tea break – Please note that we are not providing tea for choir and orchestra during the break on this occasion, so please bring your own refreshments for mid-afternoon. You will be able to refill water bottles in the kitchen, but not make hot drinks.
Concert dress – We will resume the ‘splash of colour’ theme for this concert; so all black for sopranos and altos, with long skirts/dresses/trousers (no jeans please), and a splash of colour added if you wish. Dinner suits and white shirts for tenors and basses, with splash of colour. Male altos and Female tenors can choose which option they prefer. We will take a final decision on the day but if the church is going to be very hot, it will be fine for tenors/basses to remove jackets.
Folders – We will be using the choir’s folders and will have these available on Wednesday 25th June and Saturday 28th June. These will need to be handed back after the concert but the music is yours to keep as you have paid for it.
Picnics – these will be taking place in the Castle grounds, which is a short walk from the church. You will be able to check this out on Wednesday. We will have Pimms on sale at the Castle before the event and then in the church during the interval. All ticket sales and ticket checking will remain in the church. There is a very limited amount of parking at the Castle so it is advisable to park elsewhere.
Parking – discussions are ongoing with some organisations in Deddington as we hope to access some off street parking to help ease the pressure on general parking in Deddington. I will have more information on Wednesday. However, I would encourage you to share lifts on Saturday if at all possible.
And the other bit from me is the seating plan. It is only a guide (especially as it’s not always clear how many 1sts and 2nds are in each part). Please ensure you sit like this on Wednesday 25th and Saturday 28th.

Posters and Tickets (Concert and Come and Sing Day)
You’ll have all hopefully picked up posters at the rehearsals – I’m seeing more and more plastered all over Chippy and the surrounding area, but not quite everywhere yet! You can share the digital poster below.
Tickets are also available HERE. Please share the link far and wide, it’ll be great to have another sell-out performance like the Bach!
Please also promote the Come and Sing Day too, it’s important we sell tickets for this as well! Tickets for that are available HERE, and the poster is below too.


2nd & 9th July
For the final two Wednesdays of term we have some excellent things planned.
2nd July – Firstly, we have our social. For this we’ll be joined by Hazel Gould, our librettist for the commission. It’ll be great to mingle, chat, eat and drink, and start working on the texts for the commission. A fun occasion to de-stress after a busy year together.
9th July – We’ll be running a ‘run-through’ rehearsal on the Choruses from Haydn’s Creation in advance of our Come and Sing Day on Saturday 12th July. It’ll be a good opportunity for those who don’t know it (or those who would like to refresh their memories (or even, those who know it well and just fancy a good sing!)) to have a couple of hours going through the piece in advance of the Come and Sing Day where we’ll delve into it in more detail.
2025-26 Season
Now the really exciting bit... here’s the list of dates for the 2025-26 season. We’ve got some excellent concerts coming up across the next year. If you’re interested in the full programme for each concert... you’ll just have to wait... or you can chat to me at the social... hehe!
Other Events
A few more exciting concerts following ours...




See you all soon for concert week!
– Ben