Issue 7 Dear Members During the summer break we will not be sending Choir News on a weekly basis. However, you will shortly receive the Annual Newsletter containing reports from our Chairman, Musical Director and others. Below are reminders about Berlioz arrangements and some other singing opportunities and events but first an invitation to a very important event! From Dominic and Catherine 'Our wedding will be on Saturday 16th August at 1.30pm in Gloucester Cathedral. Thank you to everyone who has said that they will sing! It should be a lovely occasion. We would also like to invite anyone else in GCS who isn't singing in the choir to come to the service and join us at our drinks reception afterwards in the cloisters. We are looking forward to the big day and hoping for sunshine... Many thanks, D&C Golden Wedding How appropriate to follow news of Dominic & Catherine s wedding with heartfelt congratulations to Brian & Irene Andrews who celebrated their golden wedding anniversary only last week! How marvellous for them both two nicer people would be hard to find and we share their joy. Other notable events If you know of any other notable events affecting GCS members, please tell Allen or Lizzie so we can include in a future Choir News.
Autumn Berlioz Rehearsals 2 September 2014 1 st 7:15pm Sir Thomas Rich s School (STRS) with social time afterwards 8 th 7:30pm STRS 15 th 7:30pm STRS 18 th (Thursday) 7:30pm STRS 23 rd (Tuesday Compulsory*) 1:30pm Queen Elizabeth Hall London (Coaches from Gloucester and Bristol) CONCERT (London): 25 Sep (Thursday) 3pm Royal Festival Hall (Coaches from Gloucester and Bristol) There will be a charge of 10 per return journey (or part thereof) per singer so, if you use the coaches on both days, it will cost you 20 to go from Gloucester to the door of the rehearsal room/concert hall and back The schedule we have been supplied by the Philharmonia Orchestra for the two days in London is below. You will see it clearly means we will be either travelling or in London all day on both days You will also see there is plenty of time around the rehearsals and concert to get meals on the day. Draft Schedule 23 rd September Gloucester and Bristol choral societies travel to London 13:30 to 16:30 Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre Piano/chorus rehearsal. Esa-Pekka to attend part of this rehearsal before moving across to the Royal Festival Hall 15:00 to 18:00 Royal Festival Hall Rehearsal for 25 th / orchestra / Droy (without chorus) 19:00 to 22:00 Royal Festival Hall Rehearsal for 25 th / tutti 24 th September Free day 25 th September Gloucester and Bristol choral societies travel to London 15:00 to 18:00 Royal Festival Hall Rehearsal for evening / tutti 19:30 CONCERT: Royal Festival Hall 82 Sébastien Droy - tenor Gloucester Choral Society & friends Bristol Choral Society Philharmonia Voices (No interval in this performance) 21:15 Chorus leaves to go home
November 2014 3 17 th 7:30pm - STRS 20 th (Thursday Compulsory*) 7:30pm Gloucester Cathedral 22 nd (Saturday Compulsory*) 2:00pm Gloucester Cathedral CONCERT (Gloucester): 22 nd (Saturday) 7pm Gloucester Cathedral BERLIOZ SCORE FOR SALE Jacque Gibbons has a new Bärenreiter score for sale (hardly used) as she is no longer able to sing in the concerts. Email allen@prior-chelt.co.uk and offer 8 and it s yours. First come, first served. Allen will pass the details to Jacque. FESTIVAL SINGERS OTHER OPPORTUNITIES & EVENTS We're a small group of ad hoc singers and need one or two extra SATB to join us for a full Sunday in Birmingham Cathedral (Choral Eucharist and Evensong) this year on Sunday, August 17. We would be delighted to welcome any of your choir to join us, but would ask them to make email contact asap so that we know how many people we'll need. The schedule is as follows: Sunday August 17, 2014 St. Philip's (Anglican) Cathedral, Colmore Row, Birmingham 8.45am - Rehearsal 11am - Choral Eucharist Darke in F Ave verum corpus - Mozart 2.00pm - Rehearsal 3.30pm - Choral Evensong Stanford in Bb Teach me, O Lord Attwood Anyone who'd be interested in joining us would be most welcome, and I'd be grateful of an email asap from any singers interested so that I can contact them with the music. Best wishes, James Reed. jnmr84094@gmail.com
4
5 Gloucester Music Society Forthcoming Season Summer greetings to all our members and friends Our forthcoming 85th anniversary season is special and we have many memorable treats including: * The wonderful young baritone Benjamin Appl who is destined for greatness and was the last student of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau performing an all Schumann programme including the Dichterliebe song cycle. Not to be missed. Hear him now while we can (just about) afford him! * A pre-concert talk on Dichterliebe by the ever-popular Stephen Johnson which is included in the ticket price. A bargain indeed! * A concert featuring the music of Howard Blake with Howard on piano. This will come as a surprise to those who only know him for his Walking in the Air song! We will hear the first UK performance of his new piano trio. * Concerts by more up and coming young artists including Baker Street Brass, who pay tribute to John McCabe, one of our Vice Presidents in his 75th birthday year, and the Jubilee String Quartet. * Three world premieres including a piano quartet by our own Christopher Boodle and a new song cycle written and performed by Susie Self with words by John Drinkwater, one of the Dymock poets, who was also her grandfather. * To conclude the season we offer a special double bill of concerts by the Goldfield Ensemble featuring some of our greatest English chamber music, plus an opportunity to join us for tea and for a pre-concert talk by Ian Venables. * For those booking for the whole season there is a saving of over 30. If you prefer to pay directly to our bank please let me know and I will let you have details. Single tickets can be booked via the website. * However in spite of my best efforts finances are still precarious so we continue to appreciate donations on which we can claim gift aid. Annabel Carey has kindly donated her picture of St Mary de Lode to raise funds so we are discussing the best way to do this. Ideas welcome. We are also offering advertising in our programmes to local businesses. If you know of anyone
who would be interested or who would be prepared to offer any sponsorship please contact me. Please let your friends know and bring them along as these programmes deserve full houses. If you would like some brochures to spread around please let me know. 6 With all good wishes. Christine Christine Talbot-Cooper Chairman, Gloucester Music Society Tel/Fax: 01242 620736 www.gloucestermusicsociety.org.uk<http://www.gloucestermusicsociety.org.uk>
Baker Street Brass Registered Charity no 285348 President: Julian Lloyd Webber Vice Presidents: Howard Blake OBE, Anthony Boden, Angela Brownridge, Sir Ernest Hall, Dr Donald Hunt OBE, Sir John Manduell CBE, Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, John McCabe CBE, Adrian Partington, Ian Venables. Madeleine Mitchell Rosalind Ventris Chairman: Christine Talbot-Cooper Telephone: 01242 620736 email: info@gloucestermusicsociety.org.uk Peter Adams Gloucester Music Society was founded in 1929 to promote chamber music concerts of the highest quality. Our aim remains unchanged, and we take pride in engaging some of the finest musicians from around the world, whilst at the same time being noted for our friendly and informal atmosphere. We present innovative and challenging programmes covering a wide range of music, in the beautiful and historic setting of St Mary de Lode Church, which has a superb acoustic. As we celebrate our 85th anniversary, we have chosen to build on our historic legacy by looking to the future and will be featuring a number of outstanding young musicians at the start of their careers; we also include three world premières, and works by English composers past and present.we will again be taking part in Gloucester Heritage Open Days on Saturday 13 September at 2.00pm at St Mary de Lode Church, when the distinguished journalist, editor, author, producer, musician and teacher Julian Haylock will give an illustrated talk entitled From Bach to the Beatles. 2014-2015 th 85 Anniversary Season We are delighted to offer reductions of over 30 for those buying series tickets. The Society is grateful to those members who, in addition to their subscriptions, make donations, especially those qualifying as Gift Aid. Ian Venables Christopher Boodle We acknowledge with gratitude support from the Summerfield Charitable Trust, the Bliss Trust, the John Ireland Trust, the Barnwood Trust, the Langtree Trust, the RVW Trust, the Herbert Howells Trust, the Kay Trust and also Whitehouse Press who have assisted in sponsoring our brochures. We are grateful to the Richard Carne Trust for sponsorship of the Jubilee String Quartet concert and to Annabel Carey who has donated her picture of St Mary de Lode to raise funds for the Society. Pianos are hired from Peter Crowther Pianos, 11 Bridge Street, Witney, OXON, OX8 6BY Telephone: 01993 709596 or 07889 832442 Programmes may be subject to alteration www.gloucestermusicsociety.org.uk Ellipsis THE BLISS TRUST 14-16 The Marina Business Park, Harbour Road, Lydney, Glos. GL15 5ET Tel: 01594 842015 Email: studio@thewhitehousepress.com St Mary de Lode Church Archdeacon Street Gloucester GL1 2QT
Thursday 2 October 2014, 7.00pm Pre-concert talk on Dichterliebe by Stephen Johnson Benjamin Appl baritone James Cheung piano Schumann Lieder Op 40, Op 107, Op 53 no 3 and Op 48 Dichterliebe Thursday 6 November 2014, 7.30pm BAKER STREET BRASS Lutoslawski - Mini Overture Dowland arr. Jackson - 4 Movements from Lachrimae McCabe - Rounds for Brass Rowley - Knots and Mirrors World Première Arnold - Quintet No.1 Jenkins - Mnemonyx Hazell - 3 Brass Cats Sherwin arr. Gale - A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square Thursday 4 December 2014, 7.30pm An evening of music by HOWARD BLAKE Howard Blake - piano and composer, Madeleine Mitchell - violin, Rosalind Ventris - viola, Peter Adams - cello Piano Trio No.2 Elegia Stravagante - UK Première Pennillion for cello and piano Violin Sonata Prelude for Solo Viola Piano Solo - Impromptu from Lifecycle Piano Quartet JUBILEE STRING QUARTET Thursday 12 February 2015, 7.30pm Haydn String Quartet in B minor, Op.33 No.1 Janáček String Quartet No.2, Intimate Letters Mendelssohn String Quartet No.2 in A minor, Op.13 Thursday 12 March 2015, 7.30pm ELLIPSIS Susie Self mezzo-soprano and composer, Melanie Ragge oboe, Robert Manasse flute, Susanna Stranders piano Quantz - Trio Sonata in C minor Phillipe Gaubert - Madrigal Vaughan Williams - Three Blake Songs Emil Kronke - Deux Papillons, Op 165 Susie Self - Dymock Dreams - World Première Quilter - Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal Herbert Howells - King David Ivor Gurney - Sleep Schumann - Romances Grieg - Notturno, Op24 Susie Self - Cosmic Lion Goddess Kern - Can t help lovin that man Gershwin - Foggy Day Saturday 18 April 2015, 3.00pm and 7.30pm THE GOLDFIELD ENSEMBLE 3.00pm AFTERNOON CONCERT Howells Rhapsodic Quintet, Op 31 Boodle Piano Quartet - World Première Bliss Clarinet Quintet Rubbra Piano Trio in One Movement, Op 68 5.30pm - tea 6.30pm Pre-concert talk by Ian Venables 7.30pm EVENING CONCERT Ireland Piano Trio no 2 in E minor Bridge Piano Quintet, H49a Venables Clarinet Quintet Howells Piano Quartet in A minor, Op 21 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM 2014-2015 Please complete and return this slip by 15 September 2014 to: Mr J Talbot-Cooper, Stoneville Cottage, Gretton Fields, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 5HH Name... Address............ Postcode... Telephone... Email... SERIES TICKET SUBSCRIPTION SEVEN CONCERTS AND TWO PRE-CONCERT TALKS Adult members... @ 85... Concessions... @ 80... Student members... @ 20... Tea (18 April)... @ 5... Donation... TOTAL... Please make cheques payable to Gloucester Music Society and enclose a stamped addressed envelope. Single tickets are 17 adult, 16 concessions, 5.00 student and include pre-concert talks. Children admitted free of charge, with accompanying adults 8.00. Inclusive ticket for both concerts on 18 April will be 30, concessions 28. Tickets available via our website or on the door. Tea must be prebooked. Donations from tax-payers can qualify as Gift Aid, which increases the value of your donation at no cost to you. Members making donations are asked to complete the following declaration. I wish all donations to Gloucester Music Society since 6 April 2000, to be treated as Gift Aid Donations until I notify you otherwise. I expect to pay an amount of income tax at least equal to the tax the charity reclaims on my donations in any tax year. Signed... Date...