Up 'N' Coming Events

Coffee Morning

A Saturday morning event in Fulwell Methodist Church.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls, while enjoying the tea/coffee and a chat.

The Murray Family in Concert

A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster.

Another opportunity to hear this very talented family (David – piano, Jennifer – clarinet and Christopher – cello) performing together as soloists and playing as a trio. Amongst other pieces, the cello will feature in the Gamba Sonata in G Major by Bach and the clarinet in Brahms’ Sonata in Eb Op.120 No.2. Certainly an opportunity not to be missed.

Tickets (£10.00, to include a post-concert glass of wine) available from the usual sources or from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/105306

A Concert of Christmas Music

This Tuesday evening performance by Bishopwearmouth Young Singers and Bishopwearmouth Choral Society Chamber Choir will take place in Ewesley Road Methodist Church, Chester Road, Sunderland.

Tickets are £6.00 and this includes seasonal refreshments afterwards.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Proposed Future Programme

The following is the proposed programme of concerts over the coming years. Actual content may be subject to change or additions and all concerts will be advertised as individual items in due course. All dates are Saturdays.

December 8th 2012

Christmas music by Chilcott and Vaughan Williams

March 23rd 2013

William Walton – Belshazzar’s Feast & other pieces.

June 22nd 2013

Madrigals by Byrd and Tallis, Berstein – Chichester Psalms, and a work by Copeland.

December 7th 2013

Brahms – Requiem, in German with two pianos.

April 12th 2014

Bach – St. Matthew Passion.

June 21st 2014

Purcell – Dido and  Aeneas, Macmillan – Who are these angels?

December 6th 2014

Handel – Messiah (Christmas pieces only), Chilcott – Christmas pieces, Rutter – Brother Hendrick’s Christmas.

March 28th 2015

Parry – I was glad & Blest Pair of Sirens, Elgar – Music Makers.

June 20th 2015

Sondheim – Side by Side.

Coffee Morning

A Saturday morning event in the Restaurant of Sunderland Minster.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls, while enjoying the tea/coffee and a chat.

Songs for a Summer Evening

This concert by the Bishopwearmouth Young Singers, with the Bishopwearmouth Chamber Choir, will take place in Ewesley Road Methodist Church. Tickets are £5.00 and there will be refreshments, a raffle, and some very good singing to enliven a summer’s evening. We look forward to seeing you there.

‘Classics Old & New’ with Virtuoso Jazz Trio and Bishopwearmouth Young Singers

A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster.

Tickets £12.00 (£10 concessions) or £6.00 in the Gallery (limited view) will be obtainable from the Minster Office, from WeGotTickets at http://www.wegottickets.com/f/2485 , via this web-site, or at the door. Doors open at 6.45 p.m.

From time to time the society likes to ‘let it’s hair down’ and our June concert will provide us with just that opportunity! We have prevailed upon our conductor to unearth some more of his arrangements of favourites and are looking forward to rehearsing Classics Old and New. Some of these arrangements go back to David’s students days,and some have needed ‘tweaking’ so he has been quite busy the last few months sorting things out. So come along to the premiere of these arrangements – we have not sung any of them before.

Also featured are the members of the Vituoso Jazz Trio. These are James Birkett, Tony Abel as bass player and introducing Bradley Johnston – a Sunderland lad! – joined by Ruth Lambert.  James Birkett is very well known in the North East and beyond having worked as a professional guitarist since the 1970s, undertaking a wide range of work and accompanying many major jazz soloists. As well as his performing, he is particularly active in jazz education with experience of teaching music at all levels and in all contexts and is currently based at The Sage Gateshead where he is Programme and Research Leader of the B.Music degree. He is also a writer contributing to publications and articles on the development of jazz study and teaching materials for all levels.

Ruth Lambert is a talented and versatile jazz singer who has established herself in recent years as one of the UK’s most classy and distinctive jazz vocalists. A professional singer since the age of 18, Ruth began her love affair with jazz at university and now has an ever-expanding range of repertoire, priding herself on her improvisational ability, approaching every song as if for the first time.

As part of this very varied, and ‘different’ concert, the main Society are being joined by the Bishopwearmouth Young Singers who will be performing with the main choir for some numbers and feature separately in their own right. It will be quite an event!

Coffee Morning

A Saturday morning event in the Restaurant of Sunderland Minster.

Why not join the Society in a social event which comes with a raffle and stalls while enjoying the tea/coffee and a chat.

Britten’s ‘St.Nicolas’ & Monteverdi’s ‘Beatus Vir’

A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster, conducted by David Murray.

Tickets £12.00 (£10 concessions) or £6.00 in Gallery with limited view.

Soloist – James Geer – tenor

 Britten’s cantata, St.Nicolas,was commissioned to celebrate the centenary of Lancing College, Sussex, where its first official performance took place in July 1948. However it had already received an unofficial premiere six weeks earlier at the first Aldenburgh Festival with Britten himself conducting both performances. It tells the story, some of it real but mostly legendary, of Nicolas the 4^th century bishop of Myra.

Nicholas is immortalised in legends that tell of his care of  the poor and oppressed. The miracle which confirmed his position was his restoration to life of three small boys who at the time of a famine had been pickled in brine by a wicked butcher. From this macabre tale emerged the practice of giving presents to deserving children. This and the fact that the Feast of St.Nicolas falls on the 6^th of December, meant that his popular image evolved into the figure of Santa Claus.

Monteverdi was perhaps one of the greatest Italian Renaissance composers and he revolutionised the music of the theatre and the church with his dramatic use of instruments and voices. Beatus Vir, which was probably composed in 1630, was published as part of a collection Selva Morale e Spirituali in 1641. A setting of Psalm 112 it is a fine example of his dramatic style, contrasting pairs or small groups of voices with the weight of the full chorus.

James Geer

Hailing from Sussex, James studied at Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he sang as an Academical Clerk in the College Choir, Trinity College of Music and on the Opera Course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 2008. While at College James won numerous scholarships and competitions including the Morag Noble Award, the Catto Scholarship and the Principal’s Award for the outstanding student performance of the year.

After graduating James was invited to become a Britten/Pears Scholar and has appeared in numerous performances at the Snape Maltings, notably as Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, conducted by David Parry and Mathan in Athalia, conducted by Richard Egarr. He has also appeared at the Snape Easter Festival in Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Bernard Labadie and at the Aldeburgh Festival where he performed Britten’s Sech Holderlin Fragmente with Malcolm Martineau. This concert was recently broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

James’ operatic roles performed while at college include Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Monsieur Triquet (Eugene Onegin), Gonzalves (L’Heure Espagnol), L’Aumonier (Les Dialogues des Carmelites), Duncan (The Albatross), The Singer (Beatrice Cenci) and Le Berger (Oedipus Rex). Roles elsewhere include Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) at the Snape Maltings, Acis (Acis and Galatea) with Edinburgh Studio Opera and Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance) for Haddo House Opera.

Concert appearances have included L’Aumonier in Les Dialogues des Carmelites with Stephane Deneve and the RSNO, The Sailor in Dido and Aeneas with Nicholas McGeegan and the ECO, both at the Edinburgh International Festival as well as a wide range of performances with choral societies throughout the UK.

James is currently a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus, the Dunedin Consort, the Academy of Ancient Music, London Voices and the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, and will be a Samling Scholar in 2010.

Ceilidh

A Saturday evening event in Whitburn Parish Church Hall.

Following the success of the Ceilidh held as part of the 60th Anniversary season, this is another opportunity for everyone to get up and dance the night away to a live band.

Tickets are £8.00 – including a pie & pea supper, with roast potatoes and gravy (vegetarian option is available if booked when buying ticket). They are available through Society members or the website.

Bring your own choice of drinks (glasses provided) and enjoy the music, dancing, raffle and good company.

Everyone can ceilidh!