7.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Clifton, Saturday 16th March 2024

Nottingham Chamber Singers present:

Angels, Dreams and Flying Machines

Join NCS for an evening of flight, fantasy and winged creatures, featuring poetry and musical works by Whitacre, Panufnik, Mendelssohn, Vaughan-Williams and many more!

 

Prepare to take flight with the Nottingham Chamber Singers as they soar,

wheel and glide through a constellation of madrigals, motets and part-songs

all on a theme of flying, wings and dreams. Hear the ravishing angels of Aleotti and Mendelssohn, drift away over hill and dale to the cloud capp’d towers

with VaughanWilliams, and take a daring leap with the ingenious inventor

Leonardo da Vinci in Eric Whitacre’s epic choral poem Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine. This programme, interspersed with words from some of Great

Britain’s most celebrated poets, promises to enthral and delight, so book early to avoid disappointment!

Performers

Formerly known as the East of England Singers, the Nottingham Chamber Singers have a busy concert schedule performing works across the full choral range, from William Byrd to Judith Weir. The choir’s refreshingly dynamic and committed performances continue to receive critical and public acclaim, led by Assistant conductor and Music for Everyone’s Assistant Artistic Director, Rachel Parkes.

 

Rachel Parkes was born and raised in Northamptonshire. She received her early musical education through the Royal School of Church Music and Northamptonshire County Performing Arts Service, and went on to gain a first class Honours degree in Music, and later a Masters in Music and Performance, from Royal Holloway, University of London. During her studies Rachel studied singing with Margaret Cable and Jessica Cash, she now receives coaching from Lynne Wayman.

Tickets

Full £14, Concession £13, Child/Student £5

Tickets are available to buy online, or by calling the office on 01159589312. Tickets will also be available to buy on the door.

Online booking is now closed as the office is not manned at the weekends. Tickets will be available to buy on the door from 7pm on Saturday.

Saturday 2nd December 2023
7.30pm, St John’s Church, Carrington, NG5 2DP 

The church is easy to find, situated on the right hand side of the Mansfield Road heading out of Nottingham towards Sherwood. There is plenty of on-street parking close by and we have arranged that we have the use of the well lit car park, which is situated just past the church. 

The Performers

Nottingham Chamber Singers
Nottingham Classical Players

Angela Kay conductor, Rachel Parkes soloist

The Music

A concert full of musical sparkle! A programme of sparkling, joyful and uplifting music for Advent and Christmas from the ‘Baroque’ period (1600-1750), with seasonal motets and festive extracts from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah.

The audience will also encounter less familiar composers of equally glorious music – Buxtehude, Schütz, Bassano – and of course Gabrieli, one of the most influential musicians of his time. Gabrieli represents the culmination of the Venetian style as the musical idiom throughout Europe shifted from Renaissance to Baroque, particularly in Germany, Bach’s homeland and the birthplace of Handel. 

For a flavour of the exhilarating style that is Baroque, click on the link to listen on YouTube to the opening of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

And by way of a contrast, enjoy Handel’s tranquil ‘Pifa’ from Messiah.

Tickets

Full £14, Concession £13, Child/Student £5

Tickets are available to buy on the door.

A winner!

At Friday’s East of England Singers concert (7 June), a small competition was held called ‘Name That Country’. Angela Kay got the audience members to annotate their programmes and try to guess the country of origin for each of the pieces performed.

The winner will be contacted today (10/06) – congratulations to them! We are thrilled to gift them two free tickets to a Music for Everyone concert of their choice.

If you’d like to find out all the answers to the competition, please get in touch. Look out for more competitions in the future!

Win Win Win!

With easyfundraising, you can support Music for Everyone for free when you shop online. It’s so easy – many of you are already signed up with us, but if you haven’t, here’s your reminder to sign up now!

And, as a special easyfundraising giveaway, you can be entered to win an LG TV! It will only take 2 clicks of your Monday: click here, then click a retailer and you’re entered for free!

And, if Amazon is more your thing, we can be supported through AmazonSmile too. For more information click here.


Exciting dates for your diary:


Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

10/06/2019

admin@music-for-everyone.org
www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312
10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
*Support us with easyfundraiser*


#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s new weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.

To subscribe, please email admin@music-for-everyone.org

Friday 7 June is on the Music for Everyone radar for 2 reasons…

  1. It is our upcoming East of England Singers (EOES) concert, ‘Summer is a-comin’ in!’, and
  2. It is the last day to vote for the Lincolnshire Young Music Maker of 2019!

Summer is a-comin’ in!

This Friday 7 June join the East of England Singers and Angela Kay as they present a varied and entertaining programme of music from around Europe – Holst, Elgar, Kodály, Ešenvalds and more!

Taking place at St Mary the Virgin Church, Bunny, Notts NG11 6QW at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8, with £7 for concessions and £4 for Children/Students – buy now online and on the door (subject to availability) – don’t miss out!

Freya Whitfield

Freya is a bright young musician and one of three finalists for Lincolnshire Music Service’s ‘Young Music Maker of 2019!’. Freya is grade 8 in the violin and viola, grade 7 in the Bb and bass clarinet, and a grade 6 pianist. She has a variety of amazing accolades and experiences under her belt, and has been a participant in our Bandwise! weekends and BIG YOUTH MUSIC EXPERIENCE project!

Voting closes on Friday 7 June, so we would love it if you could take a few seconds out of your Monday to vote for her here. You can read her full bio on the website too.

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

03/06/2019

admin@music-for-everyone.org
www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312
10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
*Support us with easyfundraiser*


#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s new weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.

To subscribe, please email admin@music-for-everyone.org.

angelakayHello everyone

As many of you know, this coming Saturday there is gong to be something ‘rather special’ happening at St John’s Church Carrington!  A very rare opportunity to hear a rich variety of both thrilling and soothing music performed by a leading chamber choir, interpreted and conducted by a Swedish conductor, Jakob Grubbström. Do come along if you possibly can, it should be a great evening, and if you feel like letting your creative juices flow during the evening, then why not enter the very first MfE Writing Competition!

Concert information and tickets here until Friday 4pm, and on the door, subject to availability. Doors open 6.45pm.

Angela 
Artistic Director, Music for Everyone
Writing Comp p1 Writing Comp p2

benvenue-fortepiano-trio-mendelssohn-1338472770-article-0This is the splendid Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, known as Felix Mendlessohn to his friends. He is central to some of Music for Everyone’s autumn adult choral events.

On Saturday 1st October, Angela Kay will lead a choral workshop exploring the riches of Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah. There are only a few places left, so sign up soon if you’d like to come. We’re looking forward to seeing you there for a day of singing simply for the joy of it – no concert, no pressure.

The following Saturday, 8th October, the East of England Singers, also conducted by Angela, will give a concert in St Mary Magdalene Church, Hucknall. Their programme of religious choral music spans 400 years and will include string orchestral pieces by Mozart and Pärt.

Without Mendelssohn, whose piece Beatus Vir opens the concert, the choral music of J S Bach might have been lost for many more years, even for ever. It’s fitting then that the largest work in the concert will be Bach’s glorious motet, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a new song). After the interval the programme travels through the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries with a vareity of well known and lesser known delightful motets. Something for everyone. Click here for tickets.

If you love to sing, Music for Everyone has plenty of choirs for you to join:

Daytime Voices are singing groups based in 5 locations: Southwell, West Bridgford, Wollaton, Sherwood and (new for 2016/17) Ollerton. Although they started this week, you’d still be welcome to join. Click here for info etc.

On Tuesday lunchtimes the Nottingham Lunchtime Choir meets at the Royal Concert Hall for a burst of singing fun. The music ranges from folk and pop to blues and classical.  The rehearsal is short enough to fit into a lunch break for those who work. It doesn’t matter at all if you can’t read music. There will be an exciting opportunity in December to sing in a short concert before the Halle Orchestra’s Christmas Concert. More here.

The East of England Singers (EOES) is an auditioned chamber choir and open to new members. Singers need to have good sight reading ability and time to commit to a busy concert schedule of both EOES concerts and Music for Everyone choral events, where they often form the semi-chorus. The ability to make tea is an advantage.

 

strawberries-and-cream-19What better way to pass a Sunday afternoon than by listening to music and eating strawberries?

Join the East of England Singers, conducted by Angela Kay, Artistic Director of Music for Everyone, for their end of season concert at the Djanolgy Recital Hall (opposite Lakeside, University of Nottingham), 3.30pm. There will be madrigals, folks songs, vocal and instrumental soloists.

Travel by tram, or park on the campus. Enjoy a walk before or afterwards.

Click here for tickets.

The East of England Singers is the auditioned chamber choir of Music for Everyone, its members are the tea and coffee makers extraordinaire of other MfE choral activities, conductors of several MfE groups, MfE admin staff, MfE Bookwise and shop ‘managers’ etc, etc. Here’s what the critics say of their singing:

“The work’s driving rhythms, catchy melodies and irresistible exuberance swept both audience and performers off their feet
William Ruff – Nottingham Evening Post

“First-class choral singing, well balanced and with a depth of understanding which brought every line of the texts to life”
Grahame Whitehead – Nottingham Evening Post

ClarinetsWell that was quite a weekend! String, reed, brass and recorder players spent a fun Saturday learning and playing new pieces, which they later performed for family and friends. It was a great day for discovering more about playing in an ensemble, band or orchestra, and making music together. MfE’s Blow the Dust (off your instrument) day will be back early next year.

If you came along, or it sounds like something you would enjoy, the Music for Everyone Summer School might be just what you’re looking for. There is a singing option as well. After last year’s successful first School, we listened to participants’ feedback and have made some changes – longer breaks, opportunities to listen to other groups, and less repertoire so that it can be honed to a nuanced performance standard. The hour-long closing concert will showcase the best of the pieces worked on during the time together.

PatGarden2016The heavens opened on Sunday, but that didn’t deter a group from the East of England Singers from going along to sing in Pat Collings beautiful garden. Thank you, Pat, for all your hard work to put on the event and raise money for Music for Everyone. And thank you to everyone who came along, armed with brollies, to look and to listen.

Firstly, the closing date for applications for the exciting post of a Principal Youth Music Animateur is this Friday, 10th June. Information here.

And secondly, Blow the Dust is back on Saturday. This is a day for adult instrumentalists to make music together. So whether you play the tuba, the viola or the recorder, etc, now’s your chance. Book here. We just ask that instrumentalists are Grade 2 and above, and recorder players can read music and play at a steady speed in an ensemble. There is an informal concert at 5pm, lasting about an hour. Albert Hall, Nottingham.

Gardens-Open-signFinally, an extremely pleasant fund raiser. All welcome. This weekend is the Beeston and Chilwell Open Garden Trail. The East of England Singers will be giving a jolly performance at 60 Park Rd, 2pm, Sunday 12 June. Money raised by the garden owner is generously being donated to Music for Everyone – refreshments available, and a beautiful garden to enjoy. Perhaps come on the tram, Chilwell Rd stop, and then a short walk.

ClassicsForChristmas

This weekend, there are three Christmassy Music for Everyone events.

Tomorrow morning, SATURDAY 5th December, traditional Carol Singing in the Market Square, 10.30am to 12 noon. The weather is set fair and mild (at the time of writing), so do come along to sing or listen.

Tomorrow evening, SATURDAY 5th December, 7.30pm, at St Giles’ Church, Church Drive, West Bridgford, NG2 6AY, Classics for Christmas. The East of England Singers will perform Bach’s sparkling Magnificat with Christmas interpolations, three beautiful Mendelssohn motets for this time of year, Bassano’s rousing Hodie Christus Natus Est, and Vaughan Williams’ gorgeous and familiar Fantasia on Christmas Carols. The New Classical Players will accompany them, and also play Torelli’s wonderful Christmas Concerto. Mulled wine or juice and mince pies will be served during the interval. Tickets available on the door. £11 (Full), £10 (Conc.), £5.50 (Child/Student), includes refreshments.  

WinterConcertAnd then on SUNDAY 6th December, why not spend part of the afternoon listening to a delightful programme of music for sumptuous strings and vivacious voices performed by the East Midland Youth String Orchestra and Nottingham Youth Voices? The concert will include J S Bach’s Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland and John Stanley’s Concerto Grosso in G major. 3.30pm, St Mary’s Church, Bunny, NG11 6QW.  Tickets for A Winter Concert will be available on the door. Full £9, Concessions £8, Child/Student £4.50