Category Archives: singing in concerts

my Proms début

Posted on August 16, 2017 by vhk10

I don’t take occasions like this for granted. After many years of going to Promenade concerts I was finally on the other side of the stage in the choir stalls as an ‘extra’ with the BBC National Chorus of Wales. … Continue reading →

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I sell my soul to a Prom

Posted on July 15, 2017 by vhk10

I have a long-standing ambition to sing at a Promenade concert, and one of the things that attracted me to Bristol Choral Society was the occasional involvement of its members in these concerts (most recently in 2016 and before that … Continue reading →

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sung once before, long ago (3): the Chichester Psalms

Posted on June 29, 2017 by vhk10

Bristol Choral Society’s final concert of the season was a programme performed to a large audience in Bristol Cathedral. I didn’t know Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs, an early work originally written as solo songs for his future wife, … Continue reading →

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music for Royal occasions

Posted on June 9, 2017 by vhk10

This was the theme rather loosely applied to the Erleigh Cantors’ concert (with interspersed readings) in St Peter’s Caversham, where we’ve returned after some years decamping to Earley. We included some pieces from recent Cathedral visits such as Jonathan Dove’s … Continue reading →

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sung once before, years ago (2): Bach’s St John Passion

Posted on April 28, 2017 by vhk10

For years my friend from Merton days Sally Mears has been trying to involve me in musical ventures she organises in the Oxford area, and finally I was able to join for a performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in … Continue reading →

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sung once before, years ago (1): Mozart’s C Minor Mass

Posted on April 6, 2017 by vhk10

As my bucket list of the works I have never done and want to do is shortened, I find that in the next few weeks I’m revisiting several pieces I have sung before but only once, and that not recently, … Continue reading →

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why I avoid Spem

Posted on January 28, 2017 by vhk10

2017 began with an unexpected (I was replacing someone who had to work that day) trip to St Cuthbert’s, Wells, to join a choir specially convened to rehearse sing Tallis’ Spem in Alium informally as a birthday celebration. I have … Continue reading →

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review of the year – 2016

Posted on January 24, 2017 by vhk10

And what a year it was. I sang in the Three Choirs Festival Chorus. I sang lots of choral masterpieces (and Carmina Burana) for the first time. I made my débuts in several new venues, sang before a member of … Continue reading →

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Messiah back on the book

Posted on January 12, 2017 by vhk10

The annual Bristol Choral Society Messiah came round again. The choir started singing the piece from memory while Adrian Partington was musical director, building it up with a few more choruses each year. With a change of conductor and an … Continue reading →

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Aaaaaah …. Neptune

Posted on December 31, 2016 by vhk10

I thought I had sung in enough major orchestral works for the first time for one year, but another came up at short notice; the wordless chorus in the final movement of Holst’s Planets suite. This was put on by … Continue reading →

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Belshazzar’s Feast with a pounding heart

Posted on December 22, 2016 by vhk10

On to Belshazzar (I would say ‘onwards and upwards’ but I don’t think there is any ‘upwards’, in any sense, after the Missa Solemnis). I have had terrible difficulties driving to rehearsals in Bristol this term, and tried to get … Continue reading →

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The Missa Solemnis is singable

Posted on November 24, 2016 by vhk10

So the great day finally came round, and I got to sing the Missa Solemnis with Gloucester Choral Society and the Bristol Ensemble in Gloucester Cathedral. I wrote earlier of the particular difficulties of performing this piece. It wasn’t Beethoven’s … Continue reading →

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