If you are around on Sunday February 18th at midday I’ll be playing Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition as part of a concert series at All Saints’ Church on Putney Common, where I also host my Knitting Concerts. Pictures is 150 years old – it was composed in 1874 – as is All Saints, so it seemed like a good idea to introduce the two to each other. I’ll precede it with a transcription of a Bach chorale prelude – Ich ruf’ von Dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call on Thee, Lord Jesus Christ) – which is a rough translation of what most pianists are heard muttering before they embark on a performance of the Mussorgsky. The concert starts at noon, safely 30 minutes after the morning service has finished, and will be over in 40 minutes. It’s a free with a retiring collection. Somebody asked me recently what a retiring collection is. I said it’s a collection that will enable the pianist to retire. I’m hoping that if I play especially badly, the contributions will be more generous to encourage me to retire even sooner. Do please come.
What an energising and enjoyable rehearsal on Tuesday! We did some detailed work on the Idomeneo & Magic Flute and the Kyrie/Dies Irae, making great progress. We’re all beginning to listen to one another and pull in the same direction as we sing.
Keep the vowels bright for a ‘high-up’ sound at the start to the Magic Flute, singing with intensity/reverence at the piano parts. Aim to achieve even singing for the Idomeneo, with an Italian Tut-to!
Bring all music after half term as usual. Focus will be on two new movements from Mozart Requiem – Sanctus and Agnus Dei – plus the Ireland.
Reminder about Robert’s recitals Friday 9/2 1:15 at St Brides and Sunday 18th Midday at All Saints Putney. More detail to follow.
Next week (13th Feb) is half term.
Music for 20th Feb (2 new Requiem movements):
Mozart, Requiem
-Kyrie
-Lachrymosa
-Dies Irae
-Sanctus
-Agnus Dei
Ireland, Greater Love
Mozart, Titus -Che del ciel
Mozart, Magic Flute – Finale
Mozart, Idomeneo – Placido è il Mar
Mozart, Ave Verum
Availability:
I’ve still to hear from some about availability – please! for the two SGC events this term (thank you to those who have already let me know):
Come & Sing – Sat 9th March, 10:30-16:00, Christchurch
Passiontide – Sun 17th March, early evening, Christchurch
Ben has been offered the opportunity to take us to participate on 24th March in a Brandenburg Choral Festival concert at St Katherine Cree church, EC3A 2BJ. Rehearsal 5pm, concert 7.30pm. We would take existing repertoire and provide one half of the concert. It would be fantastic chance to spread our wings further. We need a critical mass to participate and I need to note we may miss the chance if we don’t respond fast as we are not the only choir being asked to fill this slot. Email me asap if you are up for it! lesleymorley1@gmail.com. See brandenburg.org.uk. for the project.
We need to sell 20 tickets but this will be no issue if we have enough to take this up. We appreciate this is Another Thing for those who have already signed up for Come and Sing or CC Passiontide but we are on a roll – the Holly Lodge Concert challenge is concrete evidence of that!
On Tuesday we made great progress on Kyrie as well as looking at Placido è il mar, Lachrymosa and Magic Flute. Rebecca was really pleased with how we were listening to each other during the rehearsal and enjoying the rhythm of the music. Keep in mind her tips to support our voices from the abdomen (resistance ball), keep the momentum going through the notes and commit to the vowel on long notes.
Ben will be back with us next week when we’ll be revising what we’ve covered over the last two weeks and, if time allows, adding the Sanctus from Mozart’s Requiem
Reminder that Tuesday 13th Feb will be half term break.
Music for next week:
Music / practice tracks may be found under Music & Media Library tab / Repertoire Spring/Summer 2024:
Mozart, Requiem
-Kyrie
-Lachrymosa
-Dies Irae
-Sanctus
Ireland, Greater Love
Mozart, Titus -Che del ciel
Mozart, Magic Flute – Finale
Mozart, Idomeneo – Placido è il Mar
Mozart, Ave Verum
Availability:
Please could everyone advise availability for the two SGC events this term (thank you to those who have already let me know):
Come & Sing – Sat 9th March, 10:30-16:00, Christchurch
Passiontide – Sun 17th March, early evening, Christchurch
Come & Sing – Sat 9th March:
Barbara has very kindly said she will be organising the refreshments at the Come & Sing. Expect LOTS of cake (you’ll be baking some of it….). Barbara would be grateful for some help – please can you email her at barbarabrown5@virginmedia.com(even if you spoke to her after rehearsal) to offer your services.
Cost is £20. Guests can pay via link on flyer. Please could members pay direct to choir bank account (see below under ‘Subs’) to avoid ‘Sum-Up’ app fees.
Passiontide – 17th March
SGC has been invited by Tom Coxhead, Christchurch Music Director, to join the church choir for their Passiontide service on Sunday 17th March (time 17:00 tbc). We will sing Ireland’s Greater Love at the service. It would be a great way to build community relations as well as supporting our hosts and we hope as many of the choir as possible will be able to attend.
Subs:
Reminder that subs are due for this term (thank you to all those who have already paid);
Subs are £80 per term payable to Sheen Gate Choir – bank details as follows:
Remember, don’t hide, have the confidence to sing out, open your mouth and commit right to the end of the note.
Really thrilled with what everyone is doing, time for the last push now.
See you all for 3pm on Sunday!
CONCERT 3/12:
15:00 – 16:30 Rehearsal
18:00 Bar Opens
18:30 Concert starts (running time approx. 1 hour)
Please could anyone who is able arrive at 14:30 to set up
Running order on attached programme.
Concert dress – black with a splash of Christmas colour (red, green or white)
Folders – put music in black folders except for Carol book & Messiah score book if you have them
Sell tickets!
It’s not too late to promote the concert – Ben’s been working on the Twitter site and asked everyone who is on Twitter to follow @sheengatechoir . Instagram to follow!
3/12 TICKETS:
£10 on the door or
£8 for online advance payment. Under 16s free.
For advance tickets, pay into choir bank account putting name + tickets in reference and email me to let me know how many you’ve bought. I’ll email you a ticket / receipt which guests should bring with them
As usual we ask everyone to sell at least 3 tickets each.
AVAILABILITY FOR CC PASSIONTIDE 17/03/24:
Ben mentioned that Tom Coxhead, Christchurch Music Director, has asked whether any SGC members might be available to join the CC Passiontide Evensong service on 17th March next year. It would be a great way to build community relations as well as supporting our hosts.
Further details to follow, but in meantime could anyone who thinks they might be available let me know.
MUSIC FOR 5/12:
Please bring the three pieces we’ll be singing at the Holly Lodge Concert:
Handel’s Messiah – Hallelujah
Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine
Mozart, Ave Verum Corpus
CURRY:
We’ll be having a choir curry on Thursday 21st December 20:30 at Black Salt East Sheen. Everyone welcome.
Don’t forget to sell tickets – discount for online sales in advance!
Recap following 21/11 rehearsal:
I hope you all enjoyed the rehearsal with Rebecca Outram. Rebecca took us through The Holly and The Ivy as well as re-capping Jingle Bells, Messiah 4&44 and Once in Royal David’s City and Hark the Herald.
Next week is the last rehearsal before the concert so we’ll be running through everything done so far plus looking at the two remaining carols (In the Bleak Midwinter, Darke version, and We Wish you a merry Christmas) both from 100 carols book.
All music is now on website under Music and Media Library / Repertoire – Dec 2023.
The Holly and the Ivy (Gardner version not in 100 Carols)
Jingle Bells (Sheen Mount’s arrangement from last week)
Once In Royal David’s City
Hark Herald Angel’s Sing
In the Bleak Midwinter (Darke version)
We Wish you a Merry Christmas
JPEG version of Flyer:
Concert flyer in jpg format attached (thanks again to David Corless). This is better for sending on whatsapp – for all those friends you’re inviting! – as it shows whole picture.
Tickets for 3rd Dec will be £10 on the door or £8 for online advance payment. Under 16s free.
For advance tickets, pay into choir bank account putting name + tickets in reference and email me to let me know how many you’ve bought. I’ll email you a ticket / receipt which guests should bring with them
We’ll have flyers available hopefully next Tuesday plus in pdf form.
Bar will open at 18:00 so encourage your guests to arrive then
As usual we ask everyone to sell at least 3 tickets each.
CURRY:
We’ll be having a choir curry on Thursday 21st December. Everyone welcome. It will be in East Sheen – details to follow.
Please let me know if you can make it!
CONCERT DATES:
December 2023:
Sun 3rd Dec, SGC 18:30 start, rehearsal from 15:00
Reminder to place your order for Seeing the Star & let me know about Summer concert date:
MUSIC ORDER:
Ben plans to add Ben Ponniah’s ‘Seeing the Star’ to our programme. As this is still in copyright we will need to order copies for the concert. Please could you let me know whether you would like me to order you a copy – cost £2.75
SUMMER CONCERT DATE:
Remember to let me know which date(s) you can make for summer concert:
Saturday 22nd June 2024 or
Saturday 29th June 2024
Also, Rebecca (not Tricia as I said earlier) has put together a spotify playlist of our concert music so far for anyone who might find this helpful (& has spotify!). Thank you Rebecca!
Great turnout on Tuesday and very productive rehearsal. I was really encouraged by the way people took to the Tallis: I felt that people were really invested in it, and the speed of learning was also very promising!
As well as the Tallis we worked on The Messiah’s Since by man came death & And the glory of the Lord. Remember look up ahead of cues, crescendo through long notes and get the scaffolding set up when approaching the high notes.
Next week I’d like to focus on the Hallelujah chorus please, plus recapping things we’ve looked at up til now!
MUSIC FOR NEXT TUESDAY 31/10 (no new music):
Please bring the following music to next week’s rehearsal:
Remember to let me know which date(s) you can make for summer concert:
Saturday 22nd June 2024 or
Saturday 29th June 2024
MUSIC ORDER:
Ben plans to add Ben Ponniah’s ‘Seeing the Star’ to our programme (not for next week). As this is still in copyright we will need to order copies for the concert. Please could you let me know by Monday 30th Oct whether you would like me to order you a copy – cost £2.75
I have had the chance to speak to a few of you over the summer – thank you to those who reached out to me – but many of you I have not seen since the June concert, so I wanted to send a farewell.
I am very grateful to you all for giving me the chance to lead the choir for this last 12 months. I loved doing it, as I hope you could tell. From where I stood, you sang wonderfully, across a wide range of different musical styles, and you sang like you were enjoying yourselves – most of the time at least… I confess that I am disappointed not to be asked to carry on, but I understand the committee’s decision that a trained, professional Musical Director is in the best long-term interests of the choir. It bodes well for the future that you have plenty of new faces in the choir, and still have singers who were at the first rehearsals way back when.
Rather than returning to the back row to sing bass, I think I will take this as a hint from Life that, after a dozen years at SGC, it is time to move on to the next musical challenge. So for now it’s Farewell, so long, auf wiedersehen and adieu, but I am sure I will see you in the Plough or at a concert some time in the not-too-distant future. And if you didn’t already have my email so you can stay in touch, you can find it below.
Best wishes for the coming season, and whatever else you do in your busy lives, keep singing!
I hope you’ve had a lovely summer and are looking forward to singing again.
Following on from the marvellous year with Chris at the helm, we have another very exciting term ahead of us. As you know we are in the process of recruiting a new Musical Director to lead Sheen Gate Choir. We’ve had a fantastic response to our advertisement and are planning to hold auditions for the short-listed candidates to take place during the first three rehearsals this term. All choir members are then invited to meet on Tuesday 3rd October to make the final decision including holding a ballot.
We were fortunate to have a good number of excellent candidates interested in the post which made the task of drawing up a shortlist a difficult one. In the end we decided to invite six candidates to audition (two per audition date), this way the choir will have as wide a choice as is practical and will have the opportunity to experience different styles of direction which will be a useful exercise in itself, and hopefully great fun.
Dates for Auditions (Tuesdays 19:45-21:30):
12th September
19th September
26th September
3rd October (ballot)
It is obviously important that as many choir members as possible attend the auditions both as a courtesy to the candidates and to allow everyone involved to reach the best decision.
Please could you let me know which dates you can attend.
All Autumn Term Dates 2023 (Tuesdays 19:45-21:30):
