Author: Siobhan Jones

Dear All

I hope you’ve had a lovely summer and are looking forward to getting together again to sing. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at our first rehearsal, whether returning as an existing member or coming along for the first time (you’ll be very welcome!). We have the added excitement this term of welcoming our new Musical Director, Neavan Lobban.

Our first rehearsal of the new term will be on Tuesday 16th September, 19:45 -21:30 at Christchurch, East Sheen SW14 7AW.

Neavan has already put together a draft programme for the term and I will be placing a music order this week (details below). Please could all those who would like be included in the order email me by 8th Sep to let me know Siobhan.waswood@icloud.com.

Existing members will recognise Gjeilo’s ‘The Rose’ which is included in the programme. Most existing members will already have a copy of this piece. Please bring it along to rehearsal. Let me know if you require a copy.  

Music Order: 

Please email me by Monday 8th Sep on Siobhan.waswood@icloud.com if you would like to be included in this order. Please specifically advise whether you would like The Rose to be included in your order. If you don’t mention this I will assume you don’t need a copy of that piece.

Order A:

James MacMillan – O Radiant Dawn  £3.25

Bob Chilcott – Where Riches is Everlastingly  £3.25

Bob Chilcott – The Twelve Days of Christmas £9.95

Kim Andre Arnesen – Cradle Hymn £4.60

Order A Total: £21.05

Order B:

Ole Gjeilo – The Rose £3.25

Order B Total: £3.25

Working Programme for Autumn Term: 

*pdf will be provided shortly for you to print out 

James MacMillan – O Radiant Dawn 

Bob Chilcott – Where Riches is Everlastingly 

*Brahms – An die Heimat 

Ole Gjeilo – The Rose 

*Benedict Landauer – Stars

Bob Chilcott – The Twelve Days of Christmas 

Kim Andre Arnesen – Cradle Hymn 

*Bob Chilcott – We Wish you a Merry Christmas

Subs:

Subs will remain at £90 this term – payment details below:

£90/term to be paid into choir bank account – please put your name and ’subs’ as reference:

Account Name: Sheen Gate Choir

Account Number: 47107324

Sort: 60-01-39

Working Term Dates – Autumn​ Term2025:

16 Sep – 9 Dec except 1 week half term 28 Oct 

Concert date tab

Dear All

Huge thank you!!!​

Thank you for your OURAGEOUSLY GENEROUS!!! (as Lesley so aptly put it) gifts. Both Lesley and I feel very touched and rather overwhelmed by your generosity. 

You’re an absolutely wonderful group and we’re just delighted to help make our choir, which brings us all so much joy, happen. Thank you to the rest of the committee, to Agnes, to Mr Brewster on the bar and of course to Robert – don’t forget his concert this Sunday 29/6!

Ad Libitum Concert 7:30, 2nd July, Mortlake Hall:

Marta Garcia-Ortiz’s wonderful little choir, Ad Libitum Mortlake, will be holding its concert next Wednesday 2nd July for anyone who would like to come along – it’s free! Flyer here.

Date: Wed 2nd July

Time: 7:30

Venue: Mortlake Hall SW14 8EZ map here

Admission: Free!

Location is just behind St Mary the Virgin’s Church (where we held our rehearsals last year) pedestrian access via Vineyard Path.

Next Term’s Programme:

Our programme next term will be​ in preparation for a December concert of short works as we have done before. Neavan is busy thinking up a selection of pieces. If there are particular pieces members have always wanted to perform then let me know (siobhan.waswood@icloud.com) and I’ll put them to Neavan to consider.

Dear All

Wonderful opportunity to see Claire Filer, our soloist and Ben’s friend, singing opera at the Red Lion in Barnes this weekend (thank you to Claire Michelet for alerting me). Details here. She’d love to see choir friends there. What a fab event.

Looking forward to seeing anyone who can make it tonight in Hare & Hounds, E Sheen from 7:30.

Dear All

We’re delighted to say Neavan Lobban has accepted our invitation to join Sheen Gate Choir as our new Director of Music from September this year.

For those who weren’t there last Tuesday, Neavan swept the board with votes cast for the second-round candidates and won almost unanimously against the excellent candidates from the first round, Anthony Chater and Kieran Morris. His audition was fun and exacting. He incorporated vocal technique aids in his warm-up, took an interesting approach to the Brahms (which we sang in part whilst spread out in the church) and, in the short time remaining, managed to get us all singing the start of this tricky Bob Chilcott piece (once he got that rhythm into our heads it was never going to leave).

Thank you everyone for supporting this process and, for those who were able to, giving up your time ​to make it work. A special thanks of course goes to Robert whose accompaniment and sage advice was appreciated by all.

We’re very much looking forward to hearing Neavan’s plans for our December concert (ideas for which are already whirling round his head!). We’ll let you know in good time about any music orders that might be applicable and the start date for the new term (likely Tuesday 16th Sep).

Choir get-together:

In the meantime, we’re going to have an informal choir get-together at the Hare & Hound next Tuesday for anyone who can make it. I’ll try and book a section otherwise we’ll just commandeer  a corner (hopefully of the garden if this weather holds).

Choir get-together:

Date: Tue 24th June

Time: 7:30

Venue: Hare & Hound, E Sheen

Richmond Orchestra Summer Concert – 5pm Sunday 6th July

For anyone who would like to hear some more of the fabulous Richmond Orchestra, their next concert is 5pm on Sunday 6th July at the Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington. Link here.

Dear All

Please see below message from Robert about his next fabulous sounding concert!

All Saints’ Church, Putney Common

Sunday, June 29th at 6pm

The Seasons – Tchaikovsky

    (readings by Galina Gorskaya)

Concert Paraphrase on themes from Glinka’s Life for the Tsar – Balakirev

This is going to be a terrific programme – well, that is unless you feel really awkward around full-blown lush Romantic piano music and/or have a moral objection to outrageous high-wire piano virtuosity… If you tick either or both of those boxes this is definitely not your dream evening.

For anyone else please expect 40 minutes of the finest piano writing that Tchaikovsky ever composed – soaring, heartfelt lyricism and beautifully crafted piano writing – and an extraordinary audition piece by a cocky 18-year old looking to woo the attention of the original godfather of Russian music.

Tchaikovsky wrote The Seasons over a six-month period from the end of 1875 to the middle of 1876. There are twelve pieces, each named after a month in the year. You may feel that the title is inapt. You would not be the first person to raise that point. Each piece depicts a scene, from the harshness of Russian winter to the brilliance of the White Nights, through to harvesting and sleigh rides. Written during the composition of Swan Lake these pieces are a pocket version of the ballet. Tchaikovsky supplied some verses to preface the first couple of movements and then his publisher took over and produced texts for all twelve movements, short snatches of poetry from Pushkin, Tolstoy and others. I am delighted that Galina Korskaya, Russian language teacher and former journalist, will be reading these texts, both in Russian and in their English translation, in between the music.

Balakirev was just a couple of years older than Tchaikovsky and largely self-taught. Growing up in relative cultural isolation in the midst of Russia in the 1840s he was keen to study with Mikhail Glinka, composer of Ruslan and Ludmila and the first Russian composer, in the 1830s, whose music had been heard and celebrated in European concert halls thereby putting Russian music on the map. Balakirev secured an introduction to Glinka. In an audacious move he concocted a piano version of themes from one of Glinka’s most successful operas, Ivan Susanin or A Life for the Tsar. Imagine being the most fêted composer in Russia and an 18-year old upstart brings you his cover version of your greatest hit. Well the ploy worked – the writing is astonishingly confident – and Balakirev got his lessons. This is a piece that is rarely played, for good reason: the pianistic demands are pretty savage. So all the more reason to come along on June 29th.

As ever the concerts are free, you can drink as much wine as you like and you can bring something to do whilst you listen, if you want to: if you are an eponymous knitter then please arm yourself with bamboo needles rather than the metal ones which produce a rhythm section all of their own.

There will be an opportunity at the end to contribute, if you can, to a retiring collection to cover the costs. Any proceeds will go to Trinity Hospice, always a worthy recipient but particularly apposite for me, at this time, because they provided a sanctuary and final resting place for a friend of mine who passed away last weekend. 

Looking forward to it!

Robert

<June 2025 poster.pdf>

Dear All

Thank you to everyone who was able to come to the auditions last week. On Tuesday 17/6 we will start at 7:45 as before and will see three candidates, having added a third session ​to accommodate Ed Bonner who was ill last week. I hope everyone is OK with the late finish. It will be a long night but we didn’t want to miss the chance of seeing Ed, particularly since he impressed when he took us last year.

To manage the decision making more efficiently we have provided information on all candidates to review beforehand plus a list of criteria against which to measure candidates, reflecting areas of focus from last week’s discussions.

P​lease arrive on time (19:45 latest) to help set up so we are all ready to go when Neavan Lobban arrives. Bring your Brahms scores.

Once auditions are completed we will discuss candidates and hold vote.

Link to list of criteria

Audition Programme 17/6:

19:45 PROMPT arrival so everything can be set up and ready to go by 20:00

20:00 -20:40 NEAVAN LOBBAN

20:40-20:50 break

20:50-21:30 PAUL JEANES

21:35-10:15 ED BONNER

10:15 discussion and vote 

The audition will consist of:

1.Warm up

2.Candidate teaches/directs us singing their choice of piece

3.Candidate directs us singing Movement IV from Brahms Requiem 

Neavan Lobban​ (20:00)

Neavan is Musical Director of Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra as well as deputising as Director for Hampton Singers and Birmingham City Council Choir. He was interim conductor for Wythall Community choir and is a recent graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the University of Birmingham.

Link to CV

Link to responses to list of questions from SGC

Paul Jeanes​ (20:50)

Paul is director of Amici Chamber Choir and Ember Choral Society as well as Director of Music at Hampton Parish Church. He is a freelance musical director and orchestrator/arranger as well as a singing and directing coach. He is a former secondary school deputy head teacher.

Link to CV

Link to responses to list of questions from SGC

Ed Bonner (21:30)

Some of you may remember Ed from when he deputised for Penny at one of our rehearsals before Christmas. He is the Musical Director of Surrey Heath Singers; professional choral singer, working with English National Opera and Philharmonia Chorus amongst others; church musician for several London churches including St Martin-in-the-Fields and teacher of singing and piano.

Link to CV

Link to responses to list of questions from SGC

Candidates from 10/6:

Anthony Chater(20:00)

Anthony is a conductor and currently directs Symbel Choir which he set up in 2024. He is also ​a freelance choral singer working with St Martin’s Voices and St James’s Spanish Place. He will shortly be leaving his current role in music administration in Wigmore Hall in order to focus more on his conducting work.

Link to CV

Link to responses to list of questions from SGC

Kieran Morris (20:50)

Kieran got in touch with SGC when he heard Ben had died to offer his help in case we needed it – he knew Ben from his time at the National Youth Choir. Kieran is associate conductor of New London Chamber Choir; Conductor and Director of Sing Healthy Choirs in Berkshire and public speaking voice coach with Join the Dialogue.

Link to CV

Link to responses to list of questions from SGC

Dear All 

Please arrive on time tomorrow (19:45 latest) to help set up so we are all ready to go when Ed Bonner arrives. He will need to start right on 20:00. Bring your Brahms scores!

Once both auditions are completed and candidates departed, we will have chance to discuss what we think about each of them and the committee can field any questions you might have about their background and experience.

Following the discussion we will vote on our preferred candidate. 

We repeat this pattern on 17/6 then hold an additional vote to chose between the favoured candidates from each night.

Hope all of that is clear. More information on tomorrow’s candidates may be found below.

Ed Bonner (20:00)

Some of you may remember Ed from when he deputised for Penny at one of our rehearsals before Christmas. He is the Musical Director of Surrey Heath Singers; professional choral singer, working with English National Opera and Philharmonia Chorus amongst others; church musician for several London churches including St Martin-in-the-Fields and teacher of singing and piano.

Kieran Morris (20:50)

Kieran got in touch with SGC when he heard Ben had died to offer his help in case we needed it – he knew Ben from his time at the National Youth Choir. Kieran is associate conductor of New London Chamber Choir; Conductor and Director of Sing Healthy Choirs in Berkshire and public speaking voice coach with Join the Dialogue.

Auditions 10th & 17th June:

We will be holding two audition evenings running at approximately the same time as our usual rehearsals. The format will be similar  to when we did this last time. The time table for each evening is set out below. More details on each of the candidates will follow later.

Both audition evenings:

19:45 PROMPT arrival so everything can be set up and ready to go by 20:00

20:00 -20:40 first audition

20:40-20:50 break

20:50-21:30 second audition

21:30 discussion and vote 

Tuesday 10th June: 

Ed Bonner 

Kieran Morris

1 vote to pick preferred candidate from this evening

Tuesday 17th June:

Neavan Lobban

Paul Jeanes

2 votes – 1st to pick preferred candidate from this evening, 2nd to pick between the two preferred candidates

The audition will consist of:

1.Warm up

2.Candidate teaches/directs us singing their choice of piece

3.Candidate directs us singing Movement IV from Brahms Requiem 

Dear All

Well done everyone in the choir on a fantastic concert last night. It all came together for the final performance – Penny was absolutely delighted!! It’s a great compliment that Richmond Orchestra enjoy working with us so much and really are keen to do so again (we’ll have a think about choir positioning!).

Of course, a special bravo has to go to Robert and his astounding Rhapsody in Blue. It was a real experience for us in the choir to both hear Robert’s exceptional playing and witness the orchestra close up. What a treat – thank you Robert!

Penny wanted to pass on her congratulations to the choir for last night’s performance but also to say a huge thank you for her gifts. She was very touched. She received a selection of craft beers and gin hidden amongst her flowers and gift vouchers worth £215 collected from your very generous donations. Thank you everyone. She reiterated how much she would like to return as a soloist for us in future, something we’d be delighted to arrange.

Looking forward to seeing you all next Tuesday for the first round of auditions – details below. Bring your Brahms scores! ( Edit – We also have some wine ends to drink from the opened unused on Saturday so bring your own picnic glass if you think some of this will help with your decision making on Tuesday! It’s on the house)

Auditions Tuesday 10th & 17th June:

We will be holding two audition evenings running at approximately the same time as our usual rehearsals. The time table for each evening is set out below.

Both audition evenings:

19:45 PROMPT arrival so everything can be set up and ready to go by 20:00

20:00 -20:40 first audition

20:40-20:50 break

20:50-21:30 second audition

21:30 discussion and vote 

Tuesday 10th June: 

Ed Bonner 

Kieran Morris

1 vote to pick preferred candidate from this evening

Tuesday 17th June:

Neavan Lobban

Paul Jeanes

2 votes – 1st to pick preferred candidate from this evening, 2nd to pick between the two preferred candidates

The audition will consist of:

1.Warm up

2.Candidate teaches/directs us singing their choice of piece

3.Candidate directs us singing Movement IV from Brahms Requiem – bring Brahms scores!

Well done for an excellent last rehearsal on Tuesday. Penny was really pleased with our efforts overall (we all know which bits we need to look at ahead of Saturday!). It’s going to sound fantastic – it always does on concert day. Just remember: KEEP EYES ON PENNY!

Schedule for the day is below.

Concert dress will now be either all black or white top, black bottoms.

Concert day schedule – AT ALL SAINTS, E Sheen:

2:00-2:30: Set up for anyone who can make it

2:30–3:15pm: Gershwin (including the 5 minutes time at the end for choir to get into their positions for Faure)

3:10 -choir take places for rehearsal once Robert has finished. Arrive in church in plenty of time but please keep noise down while Gershwin rehearsal is on.

3:15 – 3:30pm: Faure

BREAK

3:45 – 5:15: Brahms

6:20 Bar opens

7:00 Concert starts

Running order for concert:

-Fauré

-Gershwin

-Break

-Brahms

Hi All

Rehearsal on Sat 7th June will now start half an hour earlier than suggested in earlier post (which I have now amended to avoid confusion). New times below:

Concert day schedule – AT ALL SAINTS, E Sheen:

2:00-2:30: Set up for anyone who can make it

2:30–3:15pm: Gershwin (including the 5 minutes time at the end for choir to get into their positions for Faure)

3:10 -choir take places for rehearsal once Robert has finished. Arrive in church in plenty of time but please keep noise down while Gershwin rehearsal is on.

3:15 – 3:30pm: Faure

BREAK

3:45 – 5:15: Brahms

6:20 Bar opens

7:00 Concert starts