Current archive for the Events category.
December 17, 2008 7:30 pm A Wednesday evening concert at Ewesley Road Methodist Church, Chester Road, Sunderland.
Bishopwearmouth Young Singers, supported by some members of the Choral Society, present a Christmas Carol with quite a difference.
Tickets £5.00 (concessions £3.00)
May 15, 2009 9:00 pm 
A special Anniversary Dinner will take place at the Quayside Exchange, High Street East, Sunderland on Friday 15th May 2009 at 7.00 for 8.00 p.m. with Alan Spedding as the special guest speaker. It is hoped that this will be an opportunity for the Society, past members and all their friends to celebrate the history of the Society.
Details of your menu choices and tickets available later - just put the date in your diary for now.
February 14, 2009 7:00 pm 
Have you never been to a ceilidh ? Now is your chance to enjoy the music of the Cashiel Band and the dancing amongst families and friends as part of the Society’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. It does not matter if you have never tried one before or whether you can even spell it - everyone can ceilidh dance.
Other details to be confirmed - put it in your diary for now.
November 1, 2008 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Join us at Ewesley Road Methodist Church, Chester Road, Sunderland to meet old friends and take refreshments while perusing the many stalls which will be available - cakes, crafts, tombola, and white elephants amongst others. Admission is £1.00 which includes coffee.
October 18, 2008 7:00 pm to 10:00 pmOnce again, Bishopwearmouth Choral Society is taking part in this Saturday evening concert at the City Hall Newcastle.
Organised by North East Promenaders against Cancer (NEPAC), this now annual charity concert is in its 19th year and will feature singers including Janice Cairns, Suzanne Manuell, Blake Fischer and Bradley Creswick (Violin), backed by a strong choir.
Tickets are £13 to £27, obtainable from the City Hall Box Office (Tel: 2612606) or from www.ticketmaster.co.uk
June 7, 2008 7:30 pm A concert at Sunderland Minster, featuring a more contemporary programme, in association with the Bishopwearmouth Young Singers and the Virtuoso Jazz Trio.
The programme for this concert will include arrangements of Gershwin songs, a Jerome Kern medley and a sequence of Carpenter numbers. A special feature of the programme will be the contribution provided by the Virtuoso Jazz Trio - which will all make for a very memorable evening.
The Virtuoso Jazz Trio, comprised of George MacDonald - Clarinet, James Birkett - Guitar, and Peter Stuart - Double Bass, was formed in 1994 when George MacDonald invited James Birkett to come around and ‘play some tunes’. Realising that they were on the same wavelength they then asked Peter Stuart to join them. Their first engagement was at the Northern Sinfonia centre in Newcastle, where they played to a packed house. An enthusiastic audience spread the word and a variety of concert and festival engagements have followed with requests for music from Bach to ‘Bird’ (alias Charlie Parker).
George MacDonald spent his youth playing saxophone and clarinet in clubs with dance bands in his native Nova Scotia. At the age of 18 he became interested in classical music and went on to study at the Royal College of Music. He joined the Northern Sinfonia as principal clarinet a few years later, relinquishing that post in 1992.
James Birkett in one of this country’s most acclaimed guitarists. He is director of jazz studies a Newcastle College, has a Doctorate in music and has had two books on jazz guitar published. James plays with a variety of jazz ensembles, regularly undertaking concert, festival and broadcast work.
Peter Stuart, being the North’s leading jazz bass player, is always in demand when a rhythm section is needed to back the best American musicians. He has lived and worked in South Africa, Switzerland and Holland and is on the staff at Newcastle College.
We look forward to seeing you there.
October 4, 2008 7:30 pm 
Although David Murray is well known as the Conductor of Bishopwearmouth Choral Society, and for his many other musical activities, he is by no means the only talented member in his family. As part of the 60th Anniversary Season we are fortunate to be able to host a concert featuring David, Jennifer (clarinet) and Christopher Murray (cello). The concert will feature the Trio by Brahms for Clarinet, Cello and Piano and another piece for the same combination by Beethoven - his Op. 11 Trio in Bb.
The concert will be at Sunderland Minster. Tickets are £10.00 or £8.00 for concessions, obtainable by the usual routes.
March 29, 2008 7:30 pm A concert in Sunderland Minster.
Soloists :
Evangelist - Richard Edgar Wilson, Jesus - Philip Smith, Soprano - Jessica Holmes, Alto - Sara Parry, Tenor - Peter Wilman, and Bass - Thomas Asher.
Please note that the date of this concert has been changed from that previously advertised.
Although Passion music was popular in some parts of Germany in the early 18th centuary, it was new to Leipzig. In 1721 Johann Kuhnau had introduced the genre to the city with his St.Mark Passion, but he died a year later; by the time his vacant post of Cantor at the Thomasschule was filled by Bach in 1723, there was no real tradition of Passion music to build on.
It appears that Bach composed five Passion settings, but only two have survived complete. The anonymous text of the St.John Passion is a complilation based in part on the famous Passion poem of B.H.Brockes. The biblical passages from St.John’s Gospel are set as recitative for the Evangelist, for Jesus and for various minor characters, or as choruses with urgent orchestral accompaniments which represent the mob calling for Jesus’s crucifixtion. The arias set free contemplative texts and provide a personal response to the action. The free chorales, using traditional Lutheran words and melodies, offer a communal response and ferquently employ bold, striking harmonies. The whole work, like Bach’s St.Matthew Passion, is framed by two massive choruses.
November 3, 2007 10:00 am to 12:00 pmWe invite you to come and join us in the hall of Ewesley Road Methodist Church (Chester Road) for our Autumn Fayre. Entrance is only £1.00 and includes coffee, which you can enjoy in between buying from a range of stalls including crafts, Christmas gifts, cakes, books and White Elephants. We look forward to seeing you there.
