Good evening everyone, I hope you’re well and have had a lovely start to the summer break! It’s very odd not having rehearsals every Wednesday, so I’m looking forward to getting going again in September. In the meantime, I hope you all have an excellent summer.
Below are a few things, including feedback from the past term, as well as a few forthcoming events. I’ll be sharing some Notes towards the end of the summer holidays, so stay tuned for that in a month’s time or so.
Concert Feedback
Well, it feels like an age ago, but I neglected to provide any feedback as the term drew to a close, so I wanted to share my thoughts with you all now.
Firstly, thank you all for such a lovely concert on the 15th June! It went incredibly well, I thought, and the event as a whole was hugely successful! A shame about the weather – 2 out of 3 ‘picnic and Pimms’ style concerts had great weather, so we were bound to get rain at some point. However, this didn’t suppress the enthusiasm, and we kicked the first half of the programme off with a bang. I really enjoyed all of the pieces in the first half, and it was so great to bring it all together. A highlight for me really was the Walford Davies – 83 people singing Anglican psalms was quite something, and it was a really touching performance of the music. A special thanks and congratulations to the semi-chorus for their performance of Parsons’s Ave Maria, which I thought was incredibly musical and expressive, and gave a really lovely contrast to the larger works. It would be remiss of me not to mention the Weir, which I thought was the weakest of the first half – we weren’t entirely together all the way through, but it was certainly different (and exciting) to get the audience involved in the singing!
The star of the show was of course the Elgar, which we absolutely nailed! I thought there were some really special moments in it, and you really captured all of the different characters each movement asked for; the lively and playful first movement, the slushy yet tender third movement, and the frantic final movement – it was all fantastic! A particular ‘well-done’ to the tenors and basses in movement 5 for the gorgeous blend and excellent ensemble we had! Again, a couple of moments which could’ve possible gone better a second time round, but the quality of singing was really brilliant!
Of course the concert would have been nothing without Rowena, whose playing both in the concert and throughout the term has been exceptional! Rowena, your Farewell to Stromness in the first half was spellbinding, and we cannot thank you enough for all the hard work you put into learning the Elgar! We’re so lucky to have Ro play for us each week.
Finally, a massive “thank you” to you all for the hard work you put into learning the music, allowing us to do something rather different in focussing on high-quality ensemble-driven singing. I really think it’s amazing what we achieved, and in such a short time. It’s the biggest the choir has been in the summer term for many years, which was absolutely brilliant as it allows us to keep developing as an ensemble! Finally finally: enormous “thank yous” to everyone who helps out not only at the concert (moving chairs, selling programmes, providing refreshments, sourcing venues, etc.) but to those who help out regularly behind the scenes ensuring rehearsals and concerts can happen! Thank you Committee for your dedication to the choir, and all our weekly volunteers.
Social
It was lovely to see so many at the end of term social too, what a lovely evening of merriment! This is our second social in the last few years, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I’m sure we’ll do another next year too. Thank you to Helene and the team of helpers for organising this too!
Cotswold Youth Choir
We had our inaugural Cotswold Youth Choir concert shortly after our own, and it was really wonderful to see so many CNCS members there supporting our youth choir! The CYC members performed so well, and I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in 10 weeks; I’m sure you all are too! The Cotswold Youth Choir is OUR choir – it’s incredible to have our own youth choir as part of the CNCS family. If you weren’t able to pop along to their first concert, do come and support them in their next concert – you’ll be so proud of them!
Chippy Festival
And our final event of the term was the Chippy Festival, in which around 25 singers performed a few numbers from our summer programme in front of the whole town on a stage outside the town hall. Certainly a different event to what we normally do, but it was great fun! It was a great opportunity to sing mic’d up, and despite the technical issues with the keyboard, it was great to sing for the town. It was also our first opportunity to sing in a joint event with the Cotswold Youth Choir – something we’ll certainly be doing in the future. Thank you all for singing and supporting.
Dates for next year
Below is a PDF of the dates for next year. We’re still confirming a couple of venues, but the dates shouldn’t now change. Please do go though and put the performances/events (marked in green) in your diary.
You’ll notice we start again on Wednesday 4th September with a look ahead to Spring with the Bach St John Passion. This is our major concert of the season, so please do come to these rehearsals before we start looking at our Christmas music!
Bach – St John Passion
As I mentioned above, Bach’s incredible St John Passion is our major concert of the year! We’ve booked some top soloists and an exceptional professional baroque orchestra, so it’s really not one to miss! I ‘d like to have a huge choir for this, and the whole year, so please encourage anyone you think might be interested to come along and join us for the exciting 2024/25 season!
I believe our wonderful librarian Susannah has been in touch via email with everyone about scores for the next term, but if you missed it, or are a new member, I’m sure another email will go out just before the start of term, so we can make sure everyone has a score.
In advance of us learning it, there are a couple of chances for you to hear it:
The first is a programme on BBC iPlayer, as Gareth Malone brings together a scratch choir to learn and perform the piece. A great watch, and an intimate look at the piece. Check it out HERE.
The second is at the BBC proms this summer! If you’ve not been to a Prom before, I’d highly recommend a trip down to London to watch these amazing concerts in the Royal Albert Hall. Not one to miss! You can find out more HERE.
Walford Davies – A Short Requiem
Sunday 28th July 2024 marks the 110th anniversary of the declaration of the First World War. For those who sang the few movements of Walford Davies’s A Short Requiem in our summer concert, you may have noticed the piece was composed in memory of all those who lost their lives in the war. I thought it would be an excellent occasion to get a small choir of friends and family together to perform the piece as a whole as part of a service, and Hook Norton church very kindly offered to host.
So, on Sunday 28th July, it would be lovely to see some friendly faces in the congregation for a short service followed by refreshments in St Peter’s Church, Hook Norton. All details are on the poster below. As it’s a church service, there’s obviously no ticket fee, but there is a retiring collection for Christian Aid’s appeal in Ukraine.
Other Events
Two more events to look forward to!
The first is a workshop run by newCHOIR, which will be led by Janet Lincé and focusses on diction! If you’ve not worked with Janet before, she’s an incredible vocal technician, so this will be an excellent workshop to be a part of. You can find tickets HERE.
The second is a Come and Sing Handel’s Messiah with Henley Choral Society. If you’d like to sign up, follow the link HERE.
That’s all for the moment, I’ll write again towards the end of the summer. I’ve really enjoyed this season, we’ve achieved a great deal and performed some exceptional concerts. Here’s to a great 2024/25 season!
Have a lovely summer!
– Ben