A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster.

Conducted by David Murray.

Soloists : Soprano – Katherine Moore, Alto – Sara Parry, Tenor – Edward Lee, Bass – Martin Robson, Piano – Eileen Bown.

Tickets are £12 in  Nave (£6 concessions for full time students and UB40s), £8.00 in Gallery (with limited view) and accompanied children under 16 admitted free. Obtainable via this website or info@mdblac240.uk.w3pcloud.com and from online ticketing at http://wegottickets.com/BCS

Beethoven wrote his Mass in C Major (Op.86) as a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy in 1807. This continued a tradition established by Joseph Haydn who had composed one mass per year for the Esterházy family, from 1795 to his health failing in 1802, to celebrate the name day of the Prince’s wife, Maria. Although by this time his status as a composer was assured, Beethoven was less experienced in sacred music and had never before set the words of the Mass. He was to do so only once more, over a decade later, in the Missa Solemnis, which often overshadows this work.

The Prince did not appreciate the mass and Beethoven left his house in a rage. Although still one of the least often performed of Beethoven’s larger works it is now recognised as a long underrated masterpiece.

The Choral Fantasy in C Minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra (Op.80) was composed in 1808 and was written as the finale of a concert, which was to premiere his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies as well a performance of a portion of his C major Mass, to unite the different musical elements (piano solo, chorus, and orchestra) highlighted in the concert night. A poet was commissioned to write the words to fit the already written parts shortly before the performance.

At the first performance Beethoven himself played the piano part but the performance itself “simply fell apart” a result most likely attributable to insufficient rehearsal time.

His Coriolanus Overture Op. 62 was written in 1807 to Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s 1804 tragedy. The structure and themes of the overture follow the play very generally. The main C minor theme represents Coriolanus’ resolve and war-like tendencies, while the more tender E-flat major theme represents the pleadings of his mother to desist. Coriolanus eventually gives in to tenderness, but since he cannot turn back having led an army of his former enemies to Rome’s gates, he kills himself.

A Saturday evening concert in Sunderland Minster, with Bishopwearmouth Young Singers.

Conducted by David Murray

Tickets are £12.00 in Nave (£6 concessions for full time students and UB40s), £8.00 in Gallery (with limited view) and accompanied children under 16 admitted free. Obtainable via this website or info@mdblac240.uk.w3pcloud.com and from online ticketing at http://wegottickets.com/BCS

Soloist – Alexander Baker – baritone.

“Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”

Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 between 1887 and 1890. This choral / orchestral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead is the best known of his large works. The most famous movement is the soprano aria Pie Jesu. Camille Saint-Saëns said of it “just as Mozart’s is the only Ave verum corpus, this is the only Pie Jesu”

His reasons for composing his Requiem are uncertain. One possible impetus may have been the death of his father in 1885 and his mother’s death two years later. Later he declared that the work was “composed for nothing …for fun, if I may be permitted to say so”. In 1924 the Requiem was performed at Fauré’s own funeral.

“As to my Requiem, perhaps I have also instinctively sought to escape from what is thought right and proper, after all the years of accompanying burial services on the organ! I know it all by heart, I wanted to write something different.”

Cantique de Jean Racine is a work for mixed chorus and piano or organ, also by Fauré, and was written by the nineteen year old composer in 1864-5. The piece won Fauré the first prize when he graduated from the École Niedermeyer and was first performed in the following year. The text, “Verbe égal au Très-Haut” is a paraphrase by Jean Racine of the hymn for Tuesday matins, Consors paterni luminous.

Panis Angelicus is the penultimate strophe of the hymn Sacris solemniis written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi as a part of a complete liturgy of the feast. Beginning with the words “Panis Angelicus” (bread of angels) it has often been set to music separately from the rest of the hymn. Most famously, in 1872, César Franck set it for voice (tenor), harp, cello, and organ, and incorporated it into his Messe àtrois voix Op.12. The 1932 performance of Franck’s work by John McCormack in Dublin’s Phoenix Park became the highlight of his career but many noteworthy renditions have been performed since.

A Saturday evening event in Whitburn Parish Church Hall.

This is another opportunity for everyone to get up and dance the night away to a live band.

Ticket price andwhat we will be having for supper to be confirmed (vegetarian option will be available if booked when buying ticket). Tickets will be 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!

A concert in the City Hall, Newcastle.

This will be the 22nd North East Promenaders Against Cancer (NEPAC) concert to raise funds for cancer research and patient support. Although the content of the programme is not yet finalised, it is likely that members of Bishopwearmouth Choral Society will be making a significant contribution to the choral content.

Tickets are £28/£24/£20/£16/£14 and are obtainable from the City Hall Booking Office (Tel: 0191 261 2606)

A Friday evening concert in Ewesley Road Methodist Church, Chester Road, Sunderland.

Bishopwearmouth Young Singers are being joined by the Bishopwearmouth Choral Society Chamber Choir to present an evening of song and music. While you will recognise most of the pieces, many of them have been arranged by David Murray, the Musical Director of the Choral Society, so come along and enjoy their new settings.

Entry is free, with coffee and chat afterwards – although you can always make a donation or buy some raffle tickets. We look forward to seeing you there.

Bishopwearmouth Young Singers invite you to a special fund-raising evening in Ewesley Road Methodist Church.

Admission £5.00, to include refreshments.

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

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.

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.

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!