Summer/Autumn

Elijah thumbnailMusical Director’s Report:

Summer Concerts – Saturday June 21st 2008 in Sherborne Church and Thursday June 26th 2008 in Faringdon United Church Hall, with Katharine Danyluk (piano) and soloists from the choir. Katharine is the organist at Sherborne Church. Harriet Williams (oboe) was scheduled to join us for these concerts, but was unfortunately indisposed, and the programme had to be readjusted to take this into account. Called “English Music for a Summer’s Evening”, the music included part songs, particularly by Stanford, Purcell’s “Come ye sons of art”, and a selection from Edward German’s “Merrie England”. Both programmes were well received, and we had an immediate invitation by Roger Whitehead to return once again to Sherborne in the not-too-distant future.

Elijah “Come and Sing” – Saturday October 4th 2008 in All Saints Church, Faringdon with Roy Woodhams (organ). This was a performance of Mendelssohns’ “Elijah” almost in its entirety, with soloists Catherine Martin (in place of Claire Barratt, who was indisposed). Rebecca Martin, Jonathan Todd and Ben Beurklian-Carter together with 4 choir soloists who did an excellent job. Roy Woodhams gave a sterling performance on the organ of this difficult keyboard reduction of the orchestral score and Denise Monk and her team provided a fantastic tea, for which many thanks. I think the formula we have for such events works extremely well – Faringdon Singers rehearse the work during the term running up to the event; others join us on the day for a morning rehearsal during which a sheet of performance instructions is handed out, followed by soloists’ rehearsal, a long break and then an evening performance. The preparation work allows a degree of interpretation, which would otherwise not be feasible, and the overall result was most satisfactory. The choir was greatly enhanced by visiting singers, many of whom made very useful vocal contributions.