Tag Archives: Hilary Campbell

Vote for us!

It is an autumn of awards seasons, and Bristol Choral Society covered itself with glory at the Making Music awards, winning Best Project with a Focus on New Music for our carol competition in December 2020. Our conductor Hilary Campbell … Continue reading

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Two remote recordings

As well as my weekly recording session for the church choir, I have recently made a couple of ‘distanced’ recordings for other choirs. This procedure is happier for me than Zoom rehearsals. I have now worked out why I don’t … Continue reading

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Ho ho ho ho ho ho

I get to about half of the BCS Come and Sing events (there’s one every year, invariably sold out). I made a point of getting to this year’s, on most of the choruses from Dido and Aeneas. I’ve never performed … Continue reading

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What is orange? The second sopranos are orange….

The nation’s recording engineers in the field of choral music must have been very busy around now, as several different ensembles I know of have all been recording. Bristol Choral Society (with Music Makers of London, Bristol Youth Choir and … Continue reading

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rehearsing but not performing

Fortunately I rarely have to pull out of performances because of illness, but a number of times in the last few years I’ve gone to rehearsals for a concert I wasn’t singing in. Twice the work concerned was the German … Continue reading

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In the beginning

Bristol Choral Society’s 2018-19 season, themed around ‘War and Peace’, ended with reflection on hope and new beginnings in Bristol Cathedral. I’d never sung (or I think even heard) Copland’s In the Beginning before. It’s a setting of the Genesis … Continue reading

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this blog’s first Mozart Requiem

It was gratifying to sing once again to a full Cathedral for Bristol Choral’s most recent concert. Our first half was a piece I’d never sung before: Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum. I recall this being quite popular on concert programmes … Continue reading

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a new chapter for the South West Festival Chorus

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 … Continue reading

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my Clifton Cathedral début

I could have performed in Clifton Cathedral on a number of occasions – for example, if I’d joined the Bath Festival Chorus – but have never actually done so. The Cathedral doesn’t host many concerts, and I believe that Bristol … Continue reading

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The Serenade to Music

Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music has been another piece on my wishlist. A while back there was a proposal to perform it in Bath with me and 15 other singers, but it didn’t happen. It can be done also with … Continue reading

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taking Duruflé to Lisbon

I have not been on many foreign choir tours – on average, it’s been about once every four years – but two of the few that I’ve done involved Duruflé’s Requiem. Perhaps it’s because it is a substantial work for … Continue reading

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channelling my inner Benny Hill

Carmina Burana is never going to be a favourite of mine, but this time round I enjoyed it rather more than before. Maybe with a woman conductor there’s a bit more of an air of complicity? At any rate, I … Continue reading

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