We’re now on our half-term break, so there’s no rehearsal next week (17th). We will recommence Vivaldi rehearsals on Friday 24th February.
There are lots of new concerts or talks in the Events Diary: Nick’s Monteverdi Vespers, Jamal’s Tallis Lamentations, concerts by both Romsey and Basingstoke Choral Societies, An Evening with Dame Harriet Walter and a WEA study day on British Light Music.
If you are interested in taking part in, or finding out more about, Henrietta’s oratorio ‘Spirit’, then click here.
At the rehearsal last night our chairman, Christopher Green, confirmed that our autumn concert will be Britten’s War Requiem on November 15th. We have booked a trio of outstanding soloists: Claire Rutter, Justin Lavender and Stephen Gadd.
This is an exciting prospect for the choir, but it is an expensive concert to put on, so we’re asking you for any possible sponsorship contacts or other fund-raising ideas you might have. Please report them to your representative: Alison Wood (sop2) for the ladies, Ian Taylor (bass) for the gents. (If you’re not sure who they are click here for their mug-shots and indeed those of the rest of the comittee.)
In addition Sue Webb announced a Sponsor-A-Note scheme – details of this will follow.
Nick would like us to have some additional rehearsals in the summer term to prepare for what is a challenging work. These will be on two Fridays: 29th June and 6th July.
We will be using the Boosey and Hawkes score. These will be available to hire. If you would like to buy your own copy please note that there are two (possibly confusing) options: the vocal score and the choral score. We are using the vocal score which has the entire work including accompaniment and solos; the choral score only shows what the choir actually sings so the page numbers will be different throughout.
The vocal score is expensive, ranging from £34.49 at Amazon down to £30.50 at Choraline. I haven’t made an exhaustive search, so if you find a cheaper source do let me know, but taking into account post and packing, Music Exchange seems the cheapest option at £30.99 including p&p.
Finally, if you’d like to attend a performance of the War Requiem, there is one by Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 25th March. Click here for details and tickets, but hurry as tickets are close to selling out. Thanks to first sop Jenny Jenkins, who’s singing in the concert, for this info.
Rodger has produced the posters and fliers for our Venetian Gloria concert – they’ll be available tomorrow (Friday 27th).
If you’d like to publicise the concert by emailing your friends and relations, here’s an electronic version.
For help to save your own copy of the poster, click on more
Henrietta is delighted to announce that Neil Ferris has agreed to take over conducting the first performance of her oratorio ‘Spirit’, which will now take place on Saturday October 20th.
Neil is an experienced conductor, having recently been appointed Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and is also Musical Director of both the Cardiff Polyphonic Choir and Wimbledon Choral Society. For a full biography see his website.
For those of you who might have missed the original announcement, ‘Spirit’ is a 90 minute work for choir and orchestra written by one of our altos, Henrietta Wentworth Stanley. She is giving members of WMC the exciting opportunity to participate in its premiere.
Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays in September and October .
There will be an initial workshop day on Saturday July 14th. You are welcome to come along and try out the work without obligation, only signing up for the rehearsals and performance if you like it.
The workshop, rehearsals and concert will all take place in central Andover.
Elaine Biddle has kindly volunteered to help Rodger in publicising our concerts locally. To this end she is assembling a list of parish magazines, editor’s contact details, and the costs of advertising therein.
Please could you help her by sending the name of your parish magazine and the contact details of the editor or producer – either email or phone number. Thank you.
Email your replies to elaine.biddle@btinternet.com . (I’ve already done Community News for Badger Farm and Olly B)
Barbara’s stock of Beatus Vir hire scores has now run out, so anyone still without a copy will either have to buy one or print a free downloaded version. Click here and look under ‘Scores’ for more details on both these options.
Please note that Choraline is now out of stock of Beatus Vir for the next 6 weeks. We’ve suggested another source, but if you’ve ordered one from Choraline recently but not yet received it, it might be worth chasing them up. Thanks to David Rees for the info.
Barbara still has a few Beatus Vir scores left for hire. When these have run out, and should you not wish to buy your own score, you may use a free download version instead: click here for more information.
Since Nick wants us to really interpret the words of Beatus Vir, anyone using a score without an English version might be interested in seeing the translation kindly provided by Jan Lloyd.
Romsey Choral Society are holding a workshop in Southampton on January 21st, just under two weeks, see more about it in the Events Diary.
Barbara Shaw our librarian has only been able to hire 80 copies of Beatus Vir: not enough for everyone, so can we encourage anyone in two minds about buying a copy to please do so (details below), or arrive in good time on January 6th to bag a hire copy! The hire cost is £1.
To buy a copy: please note that there are two extant Vivaldi settings of Beatus Vir – we are doing the one in B flat RV 598 (not RV 597 in C, which seems to be the more frequently performed) and are using the Corghi edition, published by Ricordi.
Here’s a possible online source: Choraline, for £9.99 plus £1.85 p&p.
The scores can also be ordered from CY Music in Jewry Street, Winchester. Phone 01962-820344 or see their website for further information.
To anyone who missed the note at the end of a previous post, you can see Duncan Eves’ full review of our concert by clicking here.
As Jan mentioned at the rehearsal, she’s lobbying the Hampshire Chronicle for its inclusion in next week’s paper.
The alto, tenor and bass soloists all came from Singers Direct – they were so pleased with the review that they extracted their relevant section to the Singers Direct website.
