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.

 

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

cropped-logo_darkblue_green-copy.jpgAs the Indian Summer continued, over 100 singers enjoyed a day of Romantic choral music. There was a relaxed and cheerful mood to the day. For example, Angela said Mendelssohn’s Grant us thy Peace was so beautiful she would like it to be sung at her funeral!

P1110399It was good to have time to look at the pieces in depth and learn some singing techniques. Angela and Alex talked about the importance of supporting the breath with those abdominal muscles. (Did anyone see Strictly? Weren’t there some abs on view!) We considered the importance of posture, and how to lift the sounds of our voices from strangled-cat in the throat to beautiful and resonating in the mouth.

After the tea break we muddled up to sit next to someone singing any part but our own. This encouraged us to listen to the other parts and blend with them, while also concentrating on our performance – no hanging onto the sound-tails of our neighbours! Although a little daunting, it proved enjoyable. The tuning improved and there was more expression and musicality. Angela stopped conducting to encourage us to listen to each other P1110404even more. The front two rows then turned round and faced the back three and we sang the piece again, just as a small group would do. Fantastic.

The next Nottingham Festival Chorus event will be the January course for the February concert of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Angela enthused about what a great work it is but also mentioned that it is one of the harder pieces in the choral repertoire, and so singers will need to be well prepared before the course: no sight reading on the first day of the course! Singing done, we went home to the rugby. Nuff said.