I used to sing quite regularly with this choir, which puts on ‘all-comers’ concerts preceded by intensive rehearsal twice a year. But I haven’t done so since 2013. I dropped out partly because various friends no longer sang in the choir, also I became less confident that the programme wouldn’t be changed after I’d signed up and paid up. Repertoire is an important factor in what I decide to sing in.
The choir has performed under the direction of Rupert Bevan for the last 3 years or so, and now a conductor well known to me is taking over. The first concert under their direction will be Duruflé’s Requiem and RVW’s Five Mystical Songs. I feel a bit Duruflé’d-out at the moment, so I’m passing on this one, but look forward to encountering this conductor in future in a new context. There are some real Bathonian characters awaiting them!
[Update February 2019: the Duruflé concert has been cancelled. I noticed a programming overlap with the April concert of Bath Choral Society. The chorus master I mentioned has dropped out, and I have since had an invitation to sing Gerontius with the choir in the summer, “We’re also recruiting a chorus master”]
Not many people committed for this concert. Bathonians will be more likely to sign up for a concert if someone surnamed Roper or Bevan is involved, and less likely to sing for someone they don’t know! Their loss.
It does’nt inspire confidence that the website hasn’t been updated for a year or so.