Hi all, I hope you’re well and have had a good start to the week. A few important things for you all below, so thank you for reading!
Concert Feedback
Well, what can I say?! It was an absolutely brilliant concert! I’m so proud of how you all sang, and the performance we gave. There were some real highlights for me: the Gloria of the Mass which was lively and exciting; The Heavens are Telling which was so energetic and had so much wonderful enthusiasm to it; Drop, Drop Slow Tears which was just beautiful – well blended, rich sound, and brilliant ensemble. Everything we’ve been working towards as a choir really paid off, so huge congratulations! It just gets better and better each time.
I want to say a huge thank you to you all for your patience this term as I was away for 3 rehearsals. Malcolm did an excellent job in helping with the notes, and you all worked hard for him.
An even bigger thank you for such generous gifts for Ezra, they are so gorgeous – I’m sorry he wasn’t able to come to the concert, but we’ll bring him along to the next one!
A massive thanks go to Fiona for accompanying us in the rehearsals and all of her hard work in sectionals too, AND for her excellent playing alongside the Cotswold Ensemble in the concert too! What an excellent performance they gave. Our soloists were wonderful, and you sounded great alongside them. A final ‘thank you’ to the Committee and volunteers for their hard work behind the scenes; without them concerts couldn’t happen!
If you hired the Schubert but haven’t returned it, please make sure you bring it back on Thursday 5th.
We’re arranging another engagement event in another local care home for the new year, and for this we’ll sing some of the lovely songs from the second half of the concert, so please hang on to your booklets!
What’s Next?
Steve’s already been in touch about the next event, which is the carol singing at Cumnor Hill House on Thursday 12th December. If you’re doing this, we’ve got a rehearsal to look at the music on the 5th December, normal time. Steve will send out a reminder of the details for the 12th nearer the time, but I believe it’s 6pm singing (so please arrive at 5:45pm), and we’ll all be wearing lovely fun Christmassy clothes!
I’ve got a list of carols, in case you’d like to have a look in advance. They’re all from Carols for Choirs 1:
Once in Royal David’s City (page 100) – verses 1, 2, 5 & 6
O Come All Ye Faithful (page 88) – verses 1, 2, 6 & 7
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (page 59) – all verses
Away in a Manger (page 2) – all verses
While Shepherds Watched (page 166) – all verses
O Little Town of Bethlehem (page 92) – all verses
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen (page 29) – verses 1, 2 & 5
Coventry Carol (page 83) – all verses
Hark the Herald Angels Sing (page 39) – all verses
Ding Dong Merrily on High (page 28) – all verses
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (page 60) – all verses.
We’ll try these all on Thursday (and the descants too), and then decide if that’ll be too much or if that’s enough. Thank you for looking at it in advance if you get a chance.
Next Term
Thinking ahead to next term, we’ve got a slightly shorter 9 week term, owing to an early Easter this year. We’ll begin again on the 9th January, and the concert is on the 15th March. We’ll be performing John Stainer’s The Crucifixion. If you’d like to listen to it in advance, please check it out HERE.
See you all on the 5th December for some fun carols!
– Ben
Cumnor Choral Society 