2025 was an odd year, both for what it contained and for what it didn’t. The outstanding feature was the two overseas choir tours in quick succession, with Bristol Choral to Latvia and Gloucester Choral to Transylvania. They just happened to come round in successive months. I sang in Prior Park Chapel for the first time. I sang Berlioz’ Te Deum for the first time. I heard a performance of Der Wein for the first time. I also got to hear Berg’s violin concerto and music by Boulez in Cardiff, Norma with Bath Opera and Makropoulos at the Royal Opera. Cathedral-wise, there were visits to Exeter, Llandaff and St Albans. The Llandaff weekend gave me a chance to revisit Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir and there were several pieces I sang in various services and concerts which I hadn’t done before. Major choral works I sang with orchestra were Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Brahms’ German Requiem.
But there were some things missing. I didn’t go to a Prom (apart from 2020, I have hardly ever missed a season totally for many years). I didn’t go to a concert in the Bath Festival. The only solo I sang was the first verse of Once in Royal in the atrium of the Royal United Hospital – quite a good acoustic as there is a lot of space above you. My opportunities to do so were reduced because I didn’t join the Cathedral Chamber Choir for anything (again, missing a whole year for the first time in a long while) and because the Bath Abbey Chamber Choir went through a transitional year (like most years in the choir’s short history) during which programming favoured straightforward pieces in four parts with no solos.
I also reduced my singing commitments by dropping out of Bristol Choral Society as of the autumn. So what should I expect or resolve for 2026? No choir tours are planned this time, and I may or may not be in the chorus for the Three Choirs Festival. Should that not happen, I gain an opportunity to return to Carlisle Cathedral for the first time in many years, but lose rare chances to sing with a professional orchestra. So I think my ambition for 2026 should be to get to sing in more orchestral concerts by whatever route (sadly the invitations to do so in London and Cardiff have dried up in recent years).