classical
Our choir sing at Exeter Cathedral
Members of South Devon Choir were thrilled to be invited to perform at Exeter Cathedral for this year’s Festival of Remembrance, organised by the Royal British Legion, Devon.
The festival included a short concert featuring the choir as well as music by service bands, followed by the traditional Act of Remembrance and a procession of the many flags and standards of the British Legion, service associations and cadets.
“We were delighted to be able to take part in this important commemoratioin of the servoce and sadly the sacrifice of the many people who have taken part in past battles”, said Jill Stevens, Chair of the choir.
“The opportunity to perform in our county’s cathedral does not come very often. And this year’s event was particularly moving, as it was the 40th anniversary of the Falklands war.”
The choir sang a mixture of classical choral items by Faure, Mozart and Handel – many of them items already in rehearsal for their coming concert, Crown & Glory, being performed at St Matthias’ Church, Torquay on 26 November.
Jill said, “We were so pleased that we had a number of suitable pieces already prepared, such as the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and ‘Zadok the Priest’ – and then, to sing them in that wonderfuf setting, with its fabulous organ and acoustics, was the icing on the cake!”
The choir is continuing to rehearse for their concert on 26 November, when they will be singing Mozart’s ‘Coronation Mass’ and some of Handel’s most loved choruses and arias, with professisonal soloists and a full orchestra.
Details of the concert and how to buy tickets can be found here.
Committee Life
The Ups and Downs of Committee Life
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Ups and downs are inevitable in life. No sooner do we enjoy basking in another successful concert than it is time to start arranging the next one.
Despite our extensive forward plans sometimes things go adrift and our Spring 2019 concert has been one such occasion. |
St Nicolas-Julian Rippon
Julian Rippon – Bass
Julian Rippon treats us to the well-known solo ‘Mighty Lord’ by Bach from his famous ‘Christmas Oratorio’ in our forthcoming concert on Saturday 25 November at St Matthias’ Church, Wellswood, Torquay. In addition, he will perform in the beautiful Bach Cantata, ‘Sleepers, Wake!’ together with Elinor Chapman and Nick Hawker.
Julian is in constant demand as a soloist around the South West, performing in a wide range of choral and operatic works with many of the foremost groups in the region. He is also a full-time member of Exeter Cathedral Choir.
Julian began his singing career as a boy chorister with St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, and continued to sing regularly while an Engineering
undergraduate at Cambridge
University. He moved to Japan in 1990, and later to Shanghai,
returning to the UK in 2007. While in the Far East Julian appeared
frequently as soloist, both on the stage and in the concert hall.
His solo repertoire includes Monteverdi Vespers, Handel Messiah and Judas Maccabeus, J.S. Bach B
Minor Mass, St John Passion, St Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Mozart Requiem, Beet-hoven Symphony No. 9, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Mendelssohn Elijah, Verdi Requiem, Brahms German Requiem, Stainer Crucifixion, Fauré Requiem, Mahler
Symphony No. 8, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Fantasia on Christmas Carols, Carl Orff
Carmina Burana, Duruflé
Requiem, Britten War Requiem and Howard Goodall Requiem.
Julian recently performed in Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Britten’s War Requiem, and has a busy round of concerts leading up to Christmas, including Handel Messiah, Bach Magnificat, and Durulflé Requiem. He has also been invited to perform
Mahler’s ‘Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen’ (‘Songs of a Wayfarer’) in Sidmouth next spring.
To hear Julian join us on Saturday 25 November at the earlier time of 7pm.
Tickets are available priced £12 for the concert with a separate ticket of £4.00 for the finger buffet. As usual children and students under 19 are welcome to the concert free of charge but will require a finger buffet ticket at £4.00. Tickets can be obtained from Choir Members and online and of course, on the door. Please note that because we have to cater we are asking people to book tickets no later than Saturday 18 November. There may possibly be extra buffet tickets available on the night but first come, first served as they say.
#sdevonchoirconcert
To buy tickets now please use our secure online booking system
Will the real Father Christmas please stand up
St Nicolas, the real Father Christmas
Excitement builds in the minds of small children as Christmas Eve approaches and Santa leaves presents for them but what do we know of this magical person? Who is he? Who was he?
The origin of Father Christmas, or to give him his proper name, St Nicolas, is shrouded in the mists of time. All we know of him is largely down to a writer from the 9th century giving an account of a figure who lived some 500 years before, one Nicolas of Myra.
Nicolas of Myra was reputed to have performed a number of kindly, indeed saintly, acts including the restoration to life of children whom he raised from the dead, the rescues of three sisters destined for a life of misery and prostitution, three men from an unjust death and three drowning sailors off the coast of Turkey. You can see the influence of the holy number three in these accounts.
His diverse activities have earned him the patronage of unmarried girls, pawnbrokers, merchants, perfumiers and apothecaries as well as the modern fame in which he is now held.
At our concert on 25 November we will sing of the life of St Nicolas, including the restoration to life of the children. In the Britten Cantata the children are three small boys, Timothy, Mark and John, whose parents are in anguish at their disappearance. Nicolas realises that the boys have been pickled in brine by an unscrupulous butcher and supplied as meat to a landlord in the famine stricken land. He restores them to life and you will hear them in the concert as their parts are sung by three choristers from Exeter Cathedral.
Forget Strictly, catch up on iPlayer, and come out for an evening of choral entertainment with us as we sing St Nicolas and the famous Bach Cantata BMV140 Sleepers, Wake! and if you would like to join us for a finger buffet afterwards then be quick and buy tickets for that too – the deadline is Saturday 18 November (for catering purposes) but concert tickets will be available on the door on the night.
Tickets are available online click here
For more information about the concert click here – do join us.
Sing in a choir for health
Once singing in a choir was reserved for church on Sundays but in the last few years choral singing has become more and more popular. Gareth Malone and his series The Choir and other reality TV shows, such as the X Factor, have inspired people to find their voice and find a choir to sing in. In fact, it is now estimated that 2.8 million people in Briton take part in a choir or singing group and many more probably sing solo in the shower, the kitchen and the car as they go about their daily business. Music is a mood influencer and we have only to look at the amount of music written over centuries to see its powerful effects.
What’s more, it has been shown that if you join a choir you will feel part of a group more quickly than many other activities. There is something special about singing, revealed in an October 2015 research project undertaken by The Royal Society which indicates that singing may be an evolutionary development that enables human beings to bond more quickly in social situations.
Singing can even act as a pain-killer probably due to the release of endorphins and can create a feeling of well-being, especially when singing as part of a group. The harmonious activity acts to synchronise us together and creating a beautiful sound lifts the spirits.
We hope that this will have convinced you that a choir is worthwhile joining for all its beneficial effects. Come along and try for yourself; the Choir resumes singing in September when we shall be practising the fantastic Messiah
Picture from https://www.flickr.com/photos/8176740@N05/4703393210/in/photolist-8aC7Wo-8ayTRB-8aC9nm-8aySuX-7YAzYS-7YAAKq-7YAAmh-7YAzBu
Practice makes perfect
It’s always a challenge to learn a complex piece of music – especially if you don’t read music. South Devon Choir is a community choir and a recent survey of members revealed that 25% of members read music very little. Nonetheless, you don’t have to read music to be able to sing very complex music – ears are the key. Hearing the music as others sing it, listening to the piano and practice, practice, practice are what enables the singer to learn.
Here South Devon Choir practice the Sanctus from the Verdi Requiem with the passionate John Hobbs, their Musical Director. Each part (SATB) is split in two – so there are 8 parts singing. Timing is complex, the music intricate. With plenty of time to go until the actual performance members of the Choir concentrate on learning the unfamiliar notes and timing.
The performance itself will feature over 200 voices as South Devon Choir combines with choirs from North Devon and Cornwall to form the Coast to Coast Choir in an epic staging of the Requiem in the Assembly Rooms, Torquay Town Hall, Torquay – on 2nd July 2016 and again in Barnstaple Pannier Market on 3rd July. Accompanying them will be the Festival Orchestra and professional soloists Cheryl Brendish, Heloise West, David Webb and Darren Jeffery. Tickets are available from Visitor Centres in Torquay, Paignton and Newton Abbot, on our website (click here for tickets) or you can buy them on our Facebook page.
In celebration of the life of Brian Armstrong (1945-2015)
Our next concert, Magnificat & Gloria, celebrates the life of one of our popular Choir members Ronald Brian Armstrong (usually known as Brian) who died recently.
Brian very kindly left a legacy to the Choir and his request was that we perform the Vivaldi ‘Gloria’, his favourite choral piece. Such was his love of this music that, despite being very ill and wheelchair-bound, he was spotted at a local choral workshop and performance of the ‘Gloria’ simply to participate and enjoy the wonderful music. We shall miss him greatly. If you would like to join us in celebrating his life, tickets can be obtained here
His Life
Although Brian only lived in Scotland until he was 18, he considered himself ‘Absolutely Scottish’. Born to Scottish parents, Hugh and Cathy, he grew up in Glasgow with 3 brothers, Blair, Kenneth and Michael.
After a ‘gap’ year with his best friend , Geoff, in 60s London, working at St Stephens Hospital and pulling pints on the Kings Road, Brian decided to be a teacher.
He switched from the science subjects of his Highers and focused on history and drama. Later he earned degrees in educational leadership and in TEFL. He taught in Denmark for a year and learned passable Danish. After that he took up his first post in Saudi Arabia teaching English and for 9 years taught in secondary and intermediate schools. He also taught in an adult education programme at the University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran. He was then recruited to teach at the university (later to be known as King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals). Several times he was ‘Teacher of the Year’, known as Mr Brian throughout the Eastern Province ! He continued to teach there as a valued member of English Language Centre until 2012 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Brian was passionate about everything he did. As well as his passion for the English language he played rugby, tennis, squash very competitively and swam with great determination until the last stages of his illness. Poetry and music were pastimes which he always enjoyed and Brian was in choirs throughout his life. He had a particular love of choral music.
Brian was married to Marjorie for 30 years and is survived by their three sons, John, David and Mark and three grandchildren, Monty, Maple and Marigold in Canada.
SOUTH DEVON CHOIR 