Dear Ladies,
I hope you have enjoyed the long break after our concert in May. The concert was earlier than usual and this led to a longer break than usual, so we will have to look at that for next year.
Summer is passing away and already it begins to feel autumnal, heralding the start of a new music season. The concert was very successful in many ways despite the smaller audience, which did reveal that Opera is not the most popular genre of music for the mass of the public.
However, everyone loves Christmas music and I am sure our next concert on Sunday, December 15th will attract a larger audience.
Our main aim this season is to attract new members. Please bring along a friend, someone who obviously loves to sing and enjoys music. Posters in many different locations is one way to bring attention to the choir but word of mouth is better. We will continue to advertise but do, please, try to interest others and help to build up numbers as it makes life easier for everyone.
Our Christmas Concert on December 15th will be in Christchurch. The main reason for this is that our accompanist Liz has already performed the Delibes on the Christchurch organ in 2019. She now has her original score back with all her previous instructions and registrations marked in the music, which saves her many hours of preparation.
The Delibes lasts 15 minutes and “The Star Arising” for the second half will be 45 minutes. “The Star Arising” is a very good sing. It is not difficult but it is busy, which means there is a lot to sing. Sopranos and Altos will sing from the usual position in the score and Alto 2 will on occasion sing tenor
At other times we will sing in unison to support all sections. If you can imagine, the whole choir helping out, when necessary, to thicken the texture and help to ease the voices. The music is lovely and the message is strong (which I like) and is a celebration of light and joy, full of well-loved carols and seasonal tunes. You can find this on YouTube “The Star Arising” by Joseph M Martin, which will give you the whole picture and you can learn your own part at the same time. There are no soloists this year as our summer concert ran at a loss and we need to redress this loss.
I have had to change my mind about the inclusion of single songs. There will be about 6 extra singles, a mixture of old and new but none from last year’s concert. The programme is full of beautiful music which hopefully will appeal to many different tastes.
The 6 carols ( in the usual brown envelope) will be “on loan” : “The Star Arising” is for sale only @ £10. Quite a few Ladies bought their own copy of the Delibes away back in 2019 as they wanted to keep their own copy, therefore, this music for the rest of the choir will be “on loan”, so please remember to return it at the end of the conert as it is from my own library. Thank you.
Please pay for “The Star Arising” when you receive it, which for most of you will be next Wednesday 28th August at 7.00pm, the night of Hazel’s “Farewell”. You will have received an email outlining the plan for the 28th. It will be a short singing session due to the party beginning at 8.00pm.
We will be joined by a few former members, who have been closely associated with Hazel and others who have sung with her since 2001 for the party only. There will be lots of amiable chatter, so please do come and enjoy this social evening. Please feel free to offer any anecdote/pleasurable occasion you want to remember but no long speeches are expected. We hope to take some photographs that night as well, some for Hazel and some for the website. If there is anyone who is a keen photographer, please let me know.
Our concert is on a Sunday afternoon – more details about that at rehearsals. It seems a good time to have a concert as the music calendar is busy in December when so much is going on musically.
Please keep the date free as I need every single singer to be there. Thank you in advance. A rehearsal schedule will be available at the first rehearsal on the 28th August along with the distribution of new music.
It has been a sad summer for me with the tragic death of my brother with lots of journeys up to Scotland and back again. I have also had a hefty dose of Covid recently from which I am still recovering but I am now totally free from the virus. What a misery and not funny !!
So, I am really looking forward to seeing you all, to enjoy beautiful music and happy smiles !!
See you next week.
Cheers,
All the best,
Dawn