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, Patrons, past members and all their friends to celebrate the history of the Society.

The cost of the dinner, inclusive of a pre-dinner drink, will be £24.00 per head. A booking form, complete with the choice of menu, is available from the Society. As the relevant information concerning the dinner must be passed to The Quayside Exchange by the 5th of May, all bookings for the dinner must have been received by the Society by the 27th April 2009 at the latest.

We look forward to seeing you at this Dinner, which we stress is open to all of our and your friends and trust that our sixtieth anniversary dinner will be a memorable evening with a chance to meet old friends and perhaps to make some new ones.

Once 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

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.

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.

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.

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To be held in Ewesley Road Methodist Church.

This is your opportunity to join with the Bishopwearmouth Young Singers and the Bishopwearmouth Chamber Choir in their own way of celebrating Christmas.

Tickets £5.00, or £3.00 concessions, from choir members or at the door

A concert in Sunderland Minster, featuring David Murray, as Conductor, Sara Parry – Mezzo Soprano, Katherine Moore – Soprano, James Geer – Tenor and Philip Smith – Baritone.

Originally performed in 1742, Messiah remains a well loved and familiar piece but this performance will provide an opportunity to enjoy the character and flair of Handel’s music.

Tickets £12 (£10 concessions) or £6 in the Gallery.

A Saturday evening concert at Sunderland Minster.

This performance of Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ and Lambert’s ‘Rio Grande’, conducted by David Murray, will feature Claire McKenna, soprano, Christopher Bowen, tenor, and Simon Thorpe, baritone, and the Bishopwearmouth Young Singers.

Tickets in the Nave are £10.00 (£8 concessions) and £5.oo in the Gallery – door open from 6.45 p.m.

A Saturday evening concert at Sunderland Minster.

The soloists for this performance, conducted by David Murray, will be John Graham-Hall (Gerontius), Anne-Marie Owens (The Angel), and Philip Smith (baritone).

Tickets are £10.00 (£8 concessions) and £5.00 in the Gallery with limited view, obtainable through Sunderland Minster, via our web-site – www.mdblac240.uk.w3pcloud.com – or at the door (which opens at 6.45 p.m.)