News Archives - June 2010

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Tuesday 29th June 2010

Farewell, Suzzie

Suzzie Vango has been vocal coach to the Wyre Forest Young Voices for the past five years. In that time she has made a major contribution to the development of the choir - helping to produce the beauty of tone which is such an admired feature of the Young Voices, looking after the voices of individuals within the choir, and generally being a much-loved "older sister". In her five years in Kidderminster she has remained very committed to the choir, despite a burgeoning career which has included singing with Ex Cathedra and Polyphony, developing a career as a solo singer, directing singing weeks for the National Children's Choir and directing the boys’ choir of the Farnham Youth Choir. We shall miss her enormously - but we are pleased that James Jones, who is equally distinguished as a singer and a musician, will take her place from September.

Geoffrey Weaver

Friday 4th June 2010

Theodor Storms Chor visit 2010 - May 20 to May 24

For the first time since 2005, Kidderminster Choral Society was able to welcome a large number of the Theodor Storms Chor members from our twin town, Husum in North Germany. Twenty- five TSC members, together with two non-singing partners, arrived by air to stay for four nights, from Thursday May 20 until Monday May 24. Two members, who were afraid that the volcanic ash would prevent their planned return, chose to stay at home. Heinrich and Renate Linkogel, the organisers, had arrived on Tuesday May 18 to stay with Bob and Pauline Powell for a week, and Georg Weßler, who is a frequent visitor to Kidderminster, elected to travel all the way by train, staying once again with Penny and Ray Harrowing.

 Eight TSC members had chosen to stay in a hotel, so were booked in at the Gainsborough House on Bewdley Hill.  Choral Society members acted as their taxi drivers for the long weekend. The others were hosted by KCS members.

 There was a very full programme, beginning straightaway on the Thursday evening with a rehearsal at Baxter Church Hall of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. This was the first time that the two choirs had had a combined rehearsal. On Friday there were a few hours free for everyone until 4.00 p.m., when Charles Talbot took many of the guests on a guided tour around the Town Hall. This was followed by a full rehearsal from 5.30 p.m. until 7.30 p.m. in the Music Room. Immediately afterwards 59 members of the two choirs, with their partners, enjoyed an excellent meal provided by Plyvine in the Corn Exchange.

 Saturday morning was free for everyone. At 2.00 p.m. all assembled in the Town Hall for the final rehearsal of the Rossini, conducted once again by Geoffrey Weaver. The concert began at 7.30 p.m. Unfortunately the audience was small but the performance was excellent and was well-received. Marcus Huxley and Beverley Wragg accompanied the singers on the organ and grand piano respectively. The soloists were Margaret Cooper (soprano), Helen Evora (mezzo soprano), Russell Painter (tenor) and Alan Fairs (bass) - a last-minute replacement for Tom Stoddart who was unable to take part due to illness.

 On Sunday all 27 TSC singers and 35 KCS singers travelled to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham to take part in a Simon Halsey Singalong with the CBSO. This time the work to be performed was Brahms’s German Requiem – performed in German. The choir numbered over 1300!! Rehearsals began at 1.30 p.m. with the 'performance' at 7.00 p.m. It was great fun as usual. On Monday everyone had to be up early for our guests to catch the coach to Birmingham at 8.15 a.m. The sun had shone brilliantly throughout the weekend with amazingly hot temperatures. Everyone was sad to say Goodbye after such a busy and enjoyable few days.

 The two choirs have a wonderful relationship which we all hope will last for many more years.

Pauline Powell

Friday 4th June 2010

Prague Spring - March 27

On Saturday 27 March, in Kidderminster Town Hall, a near-capacity audience enjoyed a concert of Czech and Hungarian music performed by the Choral Society, a fine quintet of guest soloists, and the Elgar Sinfonia - all under Geoffrey Weaver’s baton.

The evening began with Smetana’s rumbustious Dance of the Clowns, and continued with Dvořák’s gorgeous Song to the Moon, sung with great passion by soprano, Linda Richardson. Then came the intensely emotional Missa Brevis by Kodály. The familiar words of the Mass sounded strange against the often exotic music! Kodály made use of plainchant, but this work is imbued with the influences of Hungarian folk music, with its characteristic rhythms, phrasing and modal nature. Taking into account the fact that Kodály completed this piece in Budapest during the horrors of World War II, while he and his wife were actually in hiding, the final Dona nobis pacem plea of the Agnus Dei becomes all the more compelling.

The evening ended with Dvořák’s youthful Stabat Mater, a work of lush orchestral colours, and the composer’s melodic gifts well to the fore. Much of the work is operatic in style, especially the writing for the four soloists. In Dvořák’s setting, the liturgical sequence is divided into ten parts, with the first (Stabat Mater Dolorosa) and the last (Quando corpus morietur) thematically linked. The final section contains a complex, but wonderfully exhilarating Amen fugue.

 Peter Knott