There was Beethoven 9; there was some piece by Brahms; but all this threatens to be eclipsed on Thursday night when our very own lovely/tall/noisy* tenor, Andrew Bain will be treading the boards – and possible the tables if things get a little loose – at Leonardo’s Wine Bar to give a whistlestop tour of musical show stoppers: from South Pacific to West Side Story, from Les Mis to Hamilton, with more than enough Andrew Lloyd Webber in between, this promises to be an evening to remember – if indeed you remember anything at all the next morning after a bottle or two of Leonardo’s vino. Spaces are going fast…

(*delete as applicable)

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