Sponsored by
BAKER TILLY
Financially assisted by
The Rotary Club of Guildford
.
and the Vivace Chorus present
THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD’S
CHRISTMAS
CONCERT
in aid of his local chosen charity THE HALOW PROJECT
and Rotary’s Calcutta Eye and Jaipur Limb projects
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
Vivace
Chorus
8
Sunday
oth Dec 2007
6.30pm Holy Trinity Church
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD
| am delighted to be joining you tonight
and | am sure you would join me in
thanking the Rotary Club of Guildford
for
organising
this
evening’s
now
traditional Christmas Concert.
By attending tonight you will also be
supporting The Halow Project, one of
the chosen charities for my mayoral
year.
This charity was established in
2006 by a group of parents of special
needs children who are concerned that
a lack of post educational facilities will
lead to many of these young adults
becoming isolated in the community.
The Project Centre and supported living will be based at Tyting
Farm (near Guildford) and will help secure a future for them that
will
include a
home to be proud of,
recreational facilities and employment.
a social
life,
access to
On their behalf | would like to thank both the Rotary Club of
Guildford and all of you for supporting this very worthwhile charity.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New
Year.
S Om\f\
S
Councillor Mike Nevins
(Mayor of Guildford)
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 2
The two local charities that will be benefit from the proceeds of
tonight’s ‘Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert’ are.......
THE
HALOW
established
by a
PROJECT
group
was
of parents,
each with a child with special needs.
They
recognised
that
the
lack
of
post-educational facilities in the South
East meant that many young adults
special
needs
remain
living
with
paren s,
having little or no stimulation or structurein their
lives and becoming isolatedin the community.
Working with selected partners, Halow hopes to build employment
opportunities that will resultin a structured but varied life, enabling
these young people to reach their full potential.
Further details about the Halow Project can be seen on their
website at www.halowproject.org.uk
The retiring collection at
End of this year’s
Christmas Concert will
be in aid of
OAKLEAF
ENTERPRISE.
Located in Guildford’s Walnut Tree Close, this independent
charity supports and helps those with mental health difficulties to
lead independent, productive and fulfilling lives by training them
in the skills of Furniture Restoration, IT and Printing, Catering,
Horticulture and Upholstery. Further details about Oakleaf can
be found on their website:-
The Mavyor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 3
THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD’S
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
featuring
THE VIVACE CHORUS
This Evening’s Programme
Audience Carol
Solo
(H.J. Gauntlett arr. David Willcocks)
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In @ manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild
Jesus Christ her little child.
Choir
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and meek, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour Holy.
All
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page
4
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God'’s right hand on high;
When like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
Choir & Organ
A maiden most gentle (French Trad. arr. Andrew Carter)
Past three o’ clock
(arr. Charles Wood)
Audience Carol
(Este’s Psalter, arr. David Willcocks)
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
‘Fear not’, said he for mighty dread,
Had seized their troubled mind:
Glad tidings of great joy | bring
To you and all mankind.
To you in David’s town this day
Is born of David’s line
A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord:
And this shall be a sign:
The heav’nly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.
Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song:
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 5
All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Goodwill henceforth from heav'n to men,
Begin and never cease.
Choir
The Shepherd’s Farewell
Shepherd’s Pipe Carol
Audience Carol
(Hector Berlioz)
(John Rutter)
(J.F.Wade arr.David Willcocks)
O come, all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!
God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo! He abhors not the Virgin's Womb;
Very God,
Begotten, not created;
O come, let us adore him...
Sing, choirs of Angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heav’'n above,
Glory to God
In the highest:
O come, let us adore him...
The Mavyor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 7
Gentlemen
This did Herod sore af-fray,
And grievously bewilder,
So he gave the word to slay,
And slew the little childer,
And slew the little childer.
Ladies
Of his love and mercy mild
This the Christmas story;
And O that Mary’s gentle child
Might lead us up to glory,
Might lead us up to glory!
>
Oand A, and A and O,
Cum cantibus in choro,
Let our merry organ go,
Benedicamus Domino,
Benedicamus Domino.
Choir/Organ
No small wonder
Sussex Carol
Audience Carol
(Paul Edwards)
(Trad. arr. David Willcocks)
(English Trad. arr. David Willcocks)
God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day,
To save us all from Satan’s power,
When we were gone astray;
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.
From God our Heavenly Father,
A Blessed angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same;
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.
O tidings of comfort........
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 8
The shepherds at these tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flock a feeding,
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
The blessed babe to find.
O tidings of comfort......
Choir only
But when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort......
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All others doth deface
O Tidings of comfort and joy.....
Choir & Organ
Away in a manger
Ding Dong! Merrily on high
(W.J. Kirkpatrick, arr. John Bawden)
(16TM.Cent French, arr. John Bawden)
Address by the Mayor of Guildford
Councillor Mike Nevins
Introduced by Ken Morris
President of the Rotary Club of Guildford
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 9
Audience Carol
(Charles Wesley arr.Mendelssohn)
Hark! the herald-angels sing
Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled:
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark! the herald-angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Christ by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of a virgin’s womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald-angels sing......
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings;
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald-angels sing......
Encore
We wish you a Merry Christmas !
[a cappella]
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 10
THE VIVACE CHORUS
The Vivace Chorus came into being in May 2005, when the Choir
took the decision to ‘rebrand’ itself and thereby reflect its independent
status with a broadening repertoire. Formerly the Guildford
Philharmonic Choir, it had been founded by the Borough of Guildford
back in 1947.
Since that time, under the batons of such eminent
British musicians as Sir Charles Groves, Vernon Handley and its
current President
Sir David Willcocks, the Choir has grown in both
stature and reputation.
The
Vivace
Chorus
enjoys
a
challenging
and
varied
concert
repertoire, performing works spanning the last five centuries — some
of them well-known but also many rarities that deserve to be heard
by a wider audience.
This
was
recently
demonstrated
during
the
Choir's
2004/2005
season, when it concluded with a performance of Karl Jenkins' The
Armed Man (2000) as the first in our Contemporary Choral Classics
Cycle (CCCC) - a projected 4 year innovative series of works from
the late 20TM and 21* centuries.
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 11
The 2005/6 season began with a performance of Mendelssohn’s
epic choral Symphony No.2 (Lobgesang) — a work rarely heard in
the United Kingdom.
By contrast, our next concert was devoted
to the ‘Pillars of the Baroque’ featuring the works of Bach and
Handel. The second CCCC concert included the haunting Evening
Hymns by Humphrey Clucas and it was only slightly disconcerting
to know that the composer was actually sitting in the audience!
In addition to Brahm’s Schicksalslied and Bruckner's Te Deum, our
first concert in the 2006/7 season included three delightful works by
Hugo Wolf, whose repertoire is virtually unknown in the UK.
Music
Makers,
which
followed,
was
quintessentially
featuring the music of Elgar, Parry and Vaughan Williams.
The
English,
But the highlight of the year was undoubtedly our CCCC concert
and our first-ever foray into the world of jazz.
Here, we sang and
swung to the music of Bob Chilcott, John Rutter and Will Todd’s
Mass in Blue, which was accompanied by the composer, complete
with his jazz trio, jazz band and his outstanding soloist wife, the
soprano Bethany Halliday.
The audience loved it too and we all
received a standing ovation!
At the end of September, we sang our third consecutive ‘Last Night
of the Proms’ charity concert to a packed audience at Croydon’s
Fairfield Halls. This was a great success and great fun for both
audience and performers alike.
The Vivace
Chorus
is always searching for new members to
maintain its high standard. For further details about joining, please
contact Jane Brooks at membership@vivacechorus.org
Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings throughout term time in
central Guildford and prospective members are most welcome to
attend rehearsals on an informal basis before committing to an
audition. For more information, please see our website at
www.vivacechorus.org
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 12
THE VIVACE CHORUS
FIRST SOPRANOS
FIRST ALTOS
FIRST TENORS
Joanna Andrews
Penny Baxter
Bob Cowell
Mary Broughton
Monika Boothby
Tim Hardyment
Miranda Champion
Jane Brooks
Nick Manning
Elaine Chapman
Jane Crane
Chris Robinson
Rachel Edmondson
Liz Durning
John Trigg
Mo Kfoun
Celia Embleton
Hitary Minor
ingrid Hardiman
SECOND TENORS
Amy Nash
Kay McManus
John Bawden
Susan Norton
Christine Medlow
Bob Bromham
Robin Onslow
Rosalind Miiton
lan Landsborough
Rachel Owen
Mary Moon
Stephen Linton
Sarah Palmer
Penny Muray
Margaret Parry
Jacqueline Norman
FIRST BASSES
Margaret Perkins
Marjory Rollo
John Britten
Gillian Rix
Lesley Scordellis
Michael Golden
Judy Smith
Catherine Shacklady
Keith Hester
Carol Terry
Jane Sweaney
Chris Newbery
Frances Worpe
Claire Townsend
Chris Peters
Hilary Trigg
Robin Privett
Pamela Woodroffe
Philip Stanford
Anna Arthur
SECOND ALTOS
Kieron Walsh
Barbara Barklem
Valerie Adam
Mandy Freeman
Marion Arbuckie
SECOND BASSES
Jane Kenney
Evelyn Beastall
Peter Andrews
Judith Lewy
Mary Clayton
Roger Barrett
Krystyna Marsden
Carolyn Edis
Alan Batterbury
SECOND SOPRANOS
Jacqueline Alderton
Barry Sterndale-Bennett
Lois McCabe
Valerie Edwards
Norman Carpenter
Alison Newbery
Barbara Hilder
Geoffrey Forster
Alison Palmer
Susan Hinton
James Garrow
Kate Peters
Carol Hobbs
Nick Gough
Rosalind Plowright
Sheila Hodson
Michael Jeffery
Susannah Priede
Yvonne Hungerford
Neil Martin
Vivien Rieden
Brenda Moore
Maxwell New
Isobel Rooth
Beryl Northam
Michael Taylor
Ann Sheppard
Prue Smith
Yvette Smith
Rosey Storey
Kathy Stickland
June Windle
Paula Sutton
Elisabeth Yates
Christine Wilks
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 13
JEREMY BACKHOUSE
Jeremy Backhouse began his musical
career
at
Canterbury
where
he was
later
studied
University.
Cathedral,
Head
Chorister and
music
at
Liverpool
He spent 5 years as
Music Editor at the
Royal
National
Institute for the Blind, where he was
responsible
for
the
transcription
of
printed music into Braille.
In 1986, he joined EMI Records as a
Literary Editor and from April 1990, he
combined work as a Consultant Editor
for EMI Classics with a career as a
freelance conductor.
2004,
Jeremy
Hawkes
Music
In November
joined
Boosey
Publishers
and
&
now works for them
in
a freelance
capacity.
In January 1995, Jeremy was appointed Chorus Master and subsequently
Music Director of the Guildford Philharmonic Choir (now the Vivace
Chorus). Major works performed in Guildford Cathedral include Mahler’s
Symphony No.2 and
Symphony No.8,
Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky,
Elgar's
Dream of Gerontius, Karl Jenkins’
Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2 (Lobgesang).
The
Armed
Man
and
Jeremy is also the conductor of the Vasari Singers, widely acknowledged
as
one
of
the
finest
chamber
choirs
in
the
country,
performing
Renaissance choral music as well as contemporary commissions.
In
2005, the choir and Jeremy celebrated 25 years of working together.
Jeremy has also worked with a number of the country’s leading choirs,
including the Philharmonia Chorus, the London Choral Society and the
Brighton Festival Chorus.
For six years, up to the end of 2004, Jeremy
was the Music Director of the Wooburn Singers, only the third conductor
in the distinguished history of the choir, following Sir Richard Hickox (who
founded the choir in 1967) and most recently, Stephen Jackson.
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 14
THE ROTARY CLUB OF GUILDFORD
The Rotary Club of Guildford was formed in 1921 and
was only one of six such Clubs that existed in Britain
at that time.
Today, there are 1500 Rotary Clubs in
the UK alone with one million members.
original
1921
Rotary
Rotary
Clubs
in
Club,
the
Besides the
there
are
-
the
town
two
other
Guildford
District Club and the Guildford Chantries Club.
One of the Club’s earliest fund-raising projects in the 1920s was its ‘Big
Brother’ scheme, which was launched to help youngsters, who had lost
their fathers during the First World War.
In 1927, the Club embarked on
another scheme to raise enough money to install new radio sets in the
Royal Surrey County Hospital for the patients.
During
the
Second
World
War,
one
of the
Club’s
most
memorable
humanitarian events was to deal with the reception of the survivors from the
beaches of Dunkirk, when the exhausted troops arrived back at Guildford
Station in June 1940.
In the mid 1960s, significant contributions were made by the Rotary Club of
Guildford to prepare the way for the building and opening of the Yvonne
Arnaud Theatre and the establishment of the University of Surrey on Stag
Hill.
Projects initiated by the Rotary Club of Guildford in recent years have
included financial support for Rotary International’s Jaipur Limb project,
which provides artificial limbs and mobility aids for those who have lost
arms or legs.
The Jaipur Limb project now has 24 permanent limb centres
operating in India and Africa.
The Rotary Club of Guildford also continues to raise money to support
Calcutta’s Eye Hospitals. Thanks to the Guildford Rotary Club’s Calcutta
Eye Project, there are now 25 hospitals in operation in the Calcutta district
alone and these hospitals save the sight of 30,000 patients every year.
Both the Jaipur Limb and Calcutta Eye projects will both benefit from
money raised at tonight’s concert.
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert — Page 15
Last year, the Rotary Club’s fundraising efforts were focussed on
Guildford’s Pond Meadow School, a local specialist centre to educate
handicapped children between the ages of 2 and 19.
Currently, the
school has 70 pupils, which will expand to 108 when they move into their
new school in Larch Avenue.
President Jane Read presented a cheque for £4,695, which enabled the
school
to
purchase
a
mobile plasma screen for
interactive
making
teaching,
a
contribution
valuable
to
teaching
aids for all the children
and students.
Pictured with three of the
students at the cheque
presentation
are
Head
Teacher David Monk (far
left) and the Rotary Club
President Jane Read (far
right).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Rotary Club of Guildford would like to thank the following
people and organisations for their help in staging tonight’s concert:-
Jeremy Backhouse; Andrew Earis;
Members of the Vivace Chorus;
The Surrey Advertiser; The Inner Wheel Club of Guildford;
Rev. Robert Cotton,
The Parish of Holy Trinity and St.Marys, Guildford.
BBC Southern Counties Radio;
County Sound Radio, Eagle 96.4
FORTHCOMING
Vivace
by the
Get
your New Year off to a harmonious start......
COME AND SING with VIVACE CHORUS
Saturday, January 12TM. 2008 : Normandy Village Hall
10 am — 4.30pm ~ Refreshments provided
Join us and our Music Director Jeremy Backhouse to sing
John Rutter’s jazzy ‘Birthday Madrigals’
Written to celebrate George Shearing’s 80" Birthday, and
Bob Chilcott’s ‘The Making of the Drum’
A choral cantata celebrating how the living spirit of the drum is brought
alive. It's hugely exciting and rhythmic, with lots of percussion and fun!
For details, visit our website www.VivaceChorus.org or phone 01483-566341
A Candlelit Concert in Guildford Cathedral
Saturday, March 1. 2008 ~ 7.30pm
Mozart ~ Mass in C minor
and other works by Mahler, Haydn and Bruckner
Conductor : Jeremy Backhouse ~ The Brandenburg Sinfonia
CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN
A Gala Concert to celebrate our 60" Year of Singing
Saturday, May 17" 2008 ~ Guildford Cathedral ~ 7.30pm
Faure ~ Cantique de Jean Racine
Barber ~ Adagio for Strings
Jenkins ~ Requiem
Mahler ~ Adagietto from Symphony No.5
Elgar ~ Nimrod from the ‘Enigma Variations’
Conductor : Jeremy Backhouse ~ The Brandenburg Sinfonia
We wish you a
Merry
Christmas
www.VivaceChorus.org
Registered Charity No 1026337