back in the choir stalls …

Posted on August 19, 2005 by vhk10

This is really just a holding message. Over the next 10 days or so I’ll be singing in Chester Cathedral and York Minster. I’ll report back afterwards!
Then in September I’ll have to chase up various places on behalf of the Cathedral Chamber Choir. Will we be able to get a weekend some time in Chichester? Is our booking of Norwich in August 2007 confirmed? Will Durham Cathedral be more responsive to a letter than to emails?

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3 Responses to back in the choir stalls …

  1. don says:
    August 22, 2005 at 10:44 pm

    I’ll be curious to hear about York Minster. A few weekends ago, our choir went to an evensong there and the accoustics were horrific (sadly for such a magnificent building).

    Not only was it hard to hear the choir’s blended sound (and we were sitting in the quire next to them) but the din of tourists outside the quire area was constant.

    I think that our experience was that Durham was slow in responding … very slow. Still, it is a beautiful place to sing in!

    Our choirmaster has been with another American choir in Chichester this past week (we sang there in ’02).

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  2. David Underdown says:
    September 23, 2005 at 9:19 am

    We (Peterborough Chamber Choir) were singing in Durham the weekend immediately after Don’s choir, I don’t think our director had too many problems getting in contact with the staff there.

    A word of warning about Chichester, the front stalls really are designed for boys (and only 6 per side at that). If many of your ladies are much over 5′ tall, they really will struggle to sit in them.

    As for background noise, the worst I’ve experienced is Notre Dame de Paris, we sang a short recital there 3 years ago, apart from all the background noise of the tourists, it sounded like there was a vacuum cleaner going the whole time (probably a de-humidifier).

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  3. vhk says:
    September 25, 2005 at 11:10 pm

    Last year I tried to write the precentor of Durham Cathedral a letter, but my printer played up and printed it out in purple. Even though the shade was appropriately palatinate, I couldn’t bring myself to send it! So I emailed the Cathedral twice, but had no response. A few days ago I sent them another letter (in black).

    I sang in Chichester a few years ago. I think the choir got split into three rows and we overspilled into the next set of pews.

    As for Notre Dame: yes, I sang there once and had a similar experience. Maybe I shall write about what happened there in another posting.

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