TMCE
Soloist:
BNce
rT
Julian Lloyd Webber
The AN
Music
Makers
Elgar
\\
The Brandenburg
Sinfonia
Conductor:
Jeremy Backhouse
Vivace
Chorus
Saturday
gth March 2013
7.30 pm Glive
vivacechorus.org
Vivace
Cho rus2
Vaughan Williams:
A Serenade to Music
Elgar:
Cello Concerto
There is Sweet Music
The Music Makers
featuring
Julian Lloyd Webber
Cello
Natalia Brzezinska
Mezzo-soprano
with
The Brandenburg Sinfonia
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
Part of the 12" Guildford International Music Festival
Tonight’s concert
Have you ever wondered about the origin of the phrase ‘movers and
shakers’? It comes from the poem set to music by Elgar in The Music
Makers, which identifies musicians as the movers and shakers of the
world: We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams...
yet we are the movers and shakers of the world for ever, it seems. We
hope you are moved (if not shaken!) by the music you hear tonight.
The concert opens with Vaughan Williams’ exquisite Serenade to Music.
Written in 1938 for the 50" anniversary of Sir Henry Wood'’s first concert,
it is a setting of words from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Shakespeare clearly shows his view of the importance of a love of music
with these words of Lorenzo’s:
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.
Described by Strad magazine as “the doyen of British cellists”, our soloist
for the Elgar Cello Concerto which follows, Julian Lloyd Webber, most
certainly does have ‘music in himself’ and can surely be trusted to give a
memorable performance tonight — Julian’s Brit-award winning recording
of this piece was chosen as the finest ever by BBC Music Magazine.
After the interval, the choir will perform first an Elgar unaccompanied
part-song, There is Sweet Music, and will then conclude the evening with
The Music Makers. Something of a retrospective for Elgar, you may spot
familiar snatches from The Dream of Gerontius, Sea Pictures, the 1st
and 2nd Symphonies, the Violin Concerto and Nimrod from the Enigma
Variations, amongst others. Regular Vivace Chorus supporters will no
doubt join us in welcoming back the talented mezzo Natalia Brzezinska
to sing The Music Makers with us tonight:
‘A
deeply
moving
solo
by
the
young,
poised
mezzo-soprano
Natalia
Brzezinska revealed a treat of a voice with chestnut tones.”
Review: Ivan the Terrible, Vivace Chorus - Surrey Advertiser, May 2010.
Flash photography, audio and video recording are not permitted
without the prior written consent of the Vivace Chorus. Please also
kindly switch off all mobile phones and alarms on digital watches.
2
Vivace Chorus
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 — 1958)
Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in Down
Ampney, Gloucestershire, the son of a vicar.
After his initial education at Charterhouse
School in Surrey, he studied with Parry,
Wood and Stanford at the Royal College of
Music and Cambridge. During 1897 Vaughan
Williams went to Berlin to study with Bruch,
who
greatly influenced his views on the
importance of folk music. His early successes
depended very much on his work with
folk-song, which he began to collect in 1903.
In 1908 he studied with Ravel in Paris, and it
was only after this period that he began to
write with sureness in the larger genre.
Vaughan Williams' style is thus a synthesis of
Germanic discipline, French Impressionism
and elements of English folk-song. His work in transforming traditional
sources into modern settings led the way for later British composers
such as Benjamin Britten and William Walton.
Despite the disparate influences on his style, Vaughan Williams' music is
unique. He was a master of all genres, and was able to write in a rich
post-Romantic vein tinged with modal harmonies, as demonstrated in the
Serenade to Music, as well as create intricate symphonic structures to
equal anything produced by the Modernists in terms of complexity (such
as the fourth, fifth and sixth symphonies). His work represents something
rarely found in 20TM century art — music that appeals at both the emotional
and the intellectual level.
Serenade to Music
The Serenade to Music was written in Vaughan Williams' more Romantic
style as a tribute to the conductor Sir Henry Wood for his Golden Jubilee
concert, and first performed at the Royal Albert Hall on 5" October 1938,
with Wood himself conducting. The piece brought Rachmaninov, who
also took part in that concert, to the verge of tears; he later remarked to
Wood that he had "never heard such beautiful music".
The Serenade is unique in Western music in that the solo vocal parts
were specifically written for 16 eminent British singers of the time.
Vivace Chorus
3
Vaughan Williams, realising the difficulty of assembling 16 soloists for
future performances, subsequently made arrangements for four soloists
plus choir and orchestra and for orchestra alone. The composer also
authorised performance of the solo parts by sections of the chorus, and
this is the arrangement being used tonight.
The composer drew the text from the discussion about music and the
Music of the Spheres in Act V, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s The Merchant
of Venice.
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.
Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn:
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,
And draw her home with music.
I am never merry when | hear sweet music.
The reason is, your spirits are attentive :
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.
Music! hark!
It is your music of the house.
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.
Silence bestows that virtue on it.
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise and true perfection!
Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion
And would not be awak'd. Soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
4
Vivace Chorus
Edward Elgar (1857 — 1934)
Elgar
was
arguably
the
leading
English
composer of his generation and a significant
figure
among
late
Romantic
European
musicians. Born in Worcester in 1857, the son
of a piano-tuner and owner of a music shop,
he earned his earlier living as an organist,
violinist and teacher in his own part of the
country.
After his marriage in 1889, Elgar
moved to London to be closer to the centre of
British musical life, and started composing in
earnest. However, success only came later,
9,
after his return to Great Malvern, where he
"/ could earn a living by teaching.
Durmg the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer,
chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands, and he
obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company. His first
major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, Op. 36, was premiered in
London in
1899 under the baton of the eminent German conductor
Hans Richter. It was received with general acclaim, establishing Elgar as
the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. His next opus was
the song-cycle Sea Pictures, and the following year saw the production
of The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38, Elgar's choral setting of a poem by
Cardinal Newman and now regarded as one of the finest examples of
English choral music from any era.
From the beginning of the century until the outbreak of war in 1914, Elgar
produced many of the major compositions on which
his reputation
became firmly established, although The Music Makers (1912) was not
an immediate success, nor indeed was the Cello Concerto composed in
1919. After the war Elgar’s music began to fall out of fashion in the new
world of the 1920s and he wrote relatively little after the death of his
beloved wife Alice in 1920.
His position at the centre of national musical life was accorded formal
recognition, including a knighthood (1904), the Order of Merit (1911),
Master of the King's Musick (1924) and a baronetcy (1931).
Vivace Chorus
5
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Adagio — Moderato
Lento — Allegro molto
Adagio
Allegro — Moderato — Allegro, ma non troppo
Elgar’'s plangent Cello Concerto - contemplative, imbued with sadness,
his last great work which looks elegiacally back at a changing world and
one lost forever - was composed in the aftermath of the Great War.
Greatly affected by the slaughter, Elgar had turned away from ‘public’
patriotic music and wrote very little during most of the war. Starting in the
last months of the war, in one year Elgar poured his feelings into four
works that rank among the finest he ever composed, three chamber
works and the Cello Concerto. As the cello was not his instrument, the
composer invited cellist Felix Salmond to his Sussex country house
‘Brinkwells’, to work with him on the concerto during the summer of 1919.
However, the concerto had a disastrous premiere on 27 October at the
Queen's Hall, London, despite having Salmond as the soloist and Elgar
conducting. Unfortunately Albert Coates, who was conducting the rest of
the programme, overran his rehearsal time at the expense of Elgar's,
with the result that a London critic wrote that the orchestra "made a
lamentable public exhibition of itself." It was not until the 1960s that the
work was made popular by numerous performances and recordings, and
it is now firmly established as a cornerstone of the cello repertoire.
This poignant and noble work, designed as two pairs of movements,
opens boldly, with a short and volatile recitative for the solo cello. The
violas then introduce a long, flowing elegiac theme, picked up by the
cello. The balance of the movement is broad and lyrical. The second
movement is a brief, quicksilver scherzo, in which the cello introduces a
new theme, hesitantly at first, but then taking off, carrying the rest of the
movement with it. The passionate, but short, Adagio is the heart of the
piece, in which the solo cello sings freely above the orchestra. This leads
without a break into the finale, which begins, like the concerto itself, with
a recitative for the cello. Though much of what follows is spirited, there is
an underlying tone of sadness, and then, near the end, the cello recalls a
single heart-breaking phrase from the Adagio, that casts a shadow over
the remaining pages. Finally, the cello interjects its very first phrase, and
the orchestra sweeps to a conclusion.
~ Interval~
6
Vivace Chorus
Elgar: There is Sweet Music Op. 53, No. 1
Elgar composed a series of unaccompanied part-songs, the Four PartSongs, Op. 53, in December 1907. The first, There is Sweet Music, is
taken from the Choric Song in Tennyson’s The Lotos-Eaters, and is for
eight-part choir. It is dedicated to Canon Charles Gorton (1854 — 1912),
his friend who founded the Morecambe Festival. Elgar adjudicated at the
festival and enjoyed and appreciated Gorton’s hospitality and his advice
on textual matters for The Apostles and The Kingdom.
There is sweet music
There is sweet music here that softer falls
Than petals from blown roses on the grass,
Or night-dews on still waters between walls
Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass;
Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,
Than tir'd eyelids upon tir'd eyes;
Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.
Here are cool mosses deep,
And thro' the moss the ivies creep,
And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep,
And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 — 92)
Elgar: The Music Makers, Op. 69
The Music Makers, for chorus and contralto or mezzo-soprano soloist, is
the setting of an ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844 —1881), the
opening line of which gave Elgar his title for the work. It was inspired by
a dream fantasy, which was mainly concerned with exploring the
symbolism of dreams, and combines heroic optimism with nostalgia,
melancholy and regret, traits which run throughout much of Elgar's
output.
Written in 1912, the year after the completion of his second symphony,
Elgar quotes from several of his earlier works; including The Dream of
Gerontius,
Concerto
Sea
and
Vivace Chorus
Pictures,
the
Nimrod from
1st
the
and
2nd
Enigma
Symphonies,
Variations,
the
Violin
amongst others
7
Ode
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample a kingdom down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming,
Unearthly, impossible seeming —
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done.
They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising;
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going:
But on one man's soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart;
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.
Vivace Chorus
And therefore today
is thrilling
With a past day's late fulfilling;
And the multitudes are enlisted
In the faith that their fathers resisted
And, scorning the dream of tomorrow,
Are bringing to pass, as they may,
In the world, for its joy or its sorrow,
The dream that was scorned yesterday.
But we, with our dreaming and singing,
Ceaseless and sorrow-less we,
The glory about us clinging
Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing:
O men! It must ever be
That we dwell, in our dreaming and singing,
A little apart from ye.
For we are afar with the dawning
And the suns that are not yet high,
And out of the infinite morning
Intrepid you hear us cry —
How, spite of your human scorning,
Once more God's future draws nigh,
And already goes forth the warning
That ye of the past must die.
Great hail! we cry to the corners
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers,
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before:
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.
Arthur William
Edgar
O'Shaughnessy (1844 —1881):
Irish-English
poet. O'Shaughnessy's verse was relatively unknown in his own era, but
its popularity has grown substantially in the 20th century. By far the most
noted of any of his works is his much-anthologised Ode from Music and
Moonlight (1874), used here by Elgar.
Vivace Chorus
9
Julian Lloyd Webber - Cello
Widely
regarded as one the finest
musicians of his generation, Julian
Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most
creative and successful careers in
classical
music
today.
He
has
premiered more than fifty works for
cello and
he
has inspired
new
compositions
from
composers
as
diverse
as Joaquin
Rodrigo and
Malcolm Arnold to Philip Glass, James
MacMillan and — most recently — Eric
Whitacre.
Julian’s
many
recordings
have
received worldwide acclaim. His Brit-award winning Elgar Concerto
conducted by Yehudi Menuhin was chosen as the finest ever version by
BBC Music Magazine and his coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and
Walton’s Concerto was described by Gramophone magazine as being
“beyond any rival”. He has also recorded several highly successful CDs
of shorter pieces including ‘Cello Moods’, ‘Cradle Song’ and ‘Evening
Songs’: “It would be difficult to find better performances of this kind of
repertoire anywhere on records of today or yesterday” — Gramophone.
At the age of sixteen Julian won a scholarship to the Royal College of
Music and he completed his studies in Geneva with the renowned cellist,
Pierre Fournier. Since then he has collaborated with an extraordinary
array of musicians from Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Esa-Pekka
Salonen and Georg Solti to Elton John and Stephane Grappelli.
On 29th January 2012 Julian performed the Delius Concerto with the
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis at the Royal
Festival Hall in a concert which marked the 150th anniversary of the
composer’s birth. He has been a Vice-President of the Delius Society for
many years and — in recognition of his lifelong devotion to the music of
Elgar — he was elected President of the Elgar Society in 2009.
Julian has won numerous awards for his services to music, including the
Crystal Award (presented at the World Economic Forum in 1998) and the
Classic FM Red Award in 2005. In 1994 he was made a Fellow of the
Royal College of Music. As founder of the In Harmony Sistema England
programme, Julian is working to promote personal and community
development in some of England’s most deprived areas, through
orchestral-based learning and musical experiences.
10
Vivace Chorus
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St Catherine’s offers one of the most
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IHRIC
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Charitable Trust
Natalia Brzezinska — Mezzo-soprano
Natalia joined the Royal Academy Opera
in September 2008.
She graduated with distinction in vocal
studies from the Music Academy in Lodz
(Poland) before coming to the UK in 2006
to take up postgraduate studies with Anne
Howells and Mary Hill at the Academy.
She was a finalist in The Richard Lewis
Competition
(2008,
2009)
and
highly
commended in The Flora Nielsen/Elena
Gerhardt Prize Competition (2008). She is
N
-
supported by the Josephine Baker Trust
and the Nan Copeland Award.
Her oratorio experience includes Bach’s Magnificat, St Matthew Passion,
B Minor Mass and Cantatas, Handel's Messiah and Samson, Vivaldi's
Gloria and Stabat Mater, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Nelson Mass
and
Theresa
Mass,
Mozart's
Requiem and
Coronation
Mass,
and
Dvorak’s Stabat Mater.
Operatic roles include Berta in Rossini’'s The Barber of Seville, Fidalma
in Cimarosa’s
The Secret Marriage, Florence Pike in Britten's Albert
Herring, Larina and Filipievna in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Emira in
Hasse's I/ Siroe and Enotea in Vinci's /| Medo.
In April 2010 Natalia joined Glyndebourne Festival Opera where she
sang The Mother in Stravinsky's Mavra and was a chorus member in
productions
of
Macbeth,
Don
Giovanni,
The
Rake's
Progress,
Die
Meistersinger, Rusalka, L’elisir d'amore, The Cunning Little Vixen, La
Boheme, and Le nozze di Figaro. She has covered Goffredo in Handel's
Rinaldo during the Festival and Glyndebourne on Tour (GOT) 2011,
Cherubino in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (GOT 2012) and sang the role
of the Shepherd in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortiléges.
For 15 years Natalia has been a member of Con Vigore, a specialist
chamber choir performing a wide range of repertoire at prestigious
venues across the world. She has participated in master classes with
Jadwiga Rappé, Diane Forlano, Malcolm Martineau, Rosamund llling
and
Dennis O’'Neill.
In the
last six years
she
has featured
in the
Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany. As the mezzo Bach
Scholar, she performed regularly as a soloist in the Royal Academy of
Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series.
Vivace Chorus
11
.
Jeremy
Backhouse
began
his
musical
career
in
Canterbury
Cathedral, where he was Head
Chorister, and later studied music at
Liverpool
University.
He
spent
5 years as Music Editor at the Royal
National
Institute
of
Blind
People
(RNIB), where he was responsible for
the transcription of print music into
Braille.
In
1986
he
joined
EMI
Records as a Literary Editor and from
April 1990 combined his work as a
Consultant Editor for EMI Classics and later Boosey & Hawkes Music
Publishers with his career as a freelance conductor.
In January
1995,
Jeremy was appointed Chorus Master and
subsequently Music Director of the Vivace Chorus (then the Guildford
Philharmonic
ambitious
Choir).
Jeremy
programmes,
has
including
presented
and
Howell's
Hymnus
conducted
some
Paradisi
and
Szymanowski's Stabat Mater, Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony (No. 2),
Vaughan
Williams’
A
Sea
Symphony,
Mendelssohn’s
‘Lobgesang
(Symphony No. 2), Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible,
and, most recently, Mahler's ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ (No. 8) in the
Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Major classical
popular works have included Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Verdi's
Requiem and Haydn's The Creation.
Since 1980, Jeremy has been the conductor of the Vasari Singers,
acknowledged as one of the finest chamber choirs in the country,
performing music from the Renaissance to contemporary commissions.
Jeremy
is
totally
committed
to
contemporary
music
and
to
the
commissioning of new works. He and Vasari have commissioned over
20 works in their recent history, and this enthusiasm has spread to the
Vivace Chorus who, in May 2009, performed the premiere of their first
commission — local composer Will Todd's Te Deum.
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 6 years, to the end of 2004, Jeremy was
the Music Director of the Wooburn Singers, following Richard Hickox and
Stephen Jackson. In January 2009, Jeremy was appointed Music
Director of the Salisbury Community Choir.
12
Vivace Chorus
’
the
SBrapeenuire
sinfonta
Artistic Director — Robert Porter
Associate Music Director — Sarah Tenant-Flowers
The Brandenburg Sinfonia is one of the most dynamically versatile
musical organisations in the country. It is renowned for its special quality
of sound and poised vivacity in performance. The orchestra performs
regularly in the majority of the major venues across the country, and in
London at the Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Fairfield Halls and St John's, Smith Square. The Brandenburg Sinfonia is
also in great demand abroad and has visited France, USA, Bermuda, the
Channel Islands, Barbados, Russia, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong. In
1999 the orchestra established major concert series at both St Martin-inthe-Fields and Crystal Palace Bowil.
A large number of artists of international standing have worked with the
orchestra including Emanuel Hurwitz, Lesley Garrett, John Georgiadis,
John Wallace, Michael Thompson and Gordon Hunt. Its repertoire
ranges from Bach to Lloyd Webber and its members give around 100
performances of orchestral, chamber, choral and operatic music during
the year. The orchestras for a number of touring companies are formed
from members of the Brandenburg Sinfonia including First Act Opera,
London City Opera, Opera Holland Park, London Opera Players and
Central Festival Opera.
Violin 1
Mihkel Kerem
Susie Candlin
James Dickenson
Anna
Biggin
e Afi'gg
Cello
lan Ward
Harriet Wiltshire
Sarah Westley
Gabiriella Swallow
Clarinet
Peter Sparks
Karen Hobbs
Bass Clarinet
:
Richard
Russell
Trumpet
Angela Whelan
David Geoghegan
Gillian Hicks
Anna de Bruin
:
Bass
s
Anthony Williams
RN
Susan Whlte
Emma Juliet
Dunja Lavrova
Natalia Bonner
e
Violin 2
Liz van Ments
James Widden
Gabiriella Nikula
David A
avic
Ale
Flute
Robert Manasse
Kimberley Boyle
.
Barbara Zdziarska
Etlatr:\(:;lloDoyn B
John Dickinson
Oboe
lva Fleischansova
Viola
Kate Musiker
Louise Hawker
Toby Deller
Richard Cookson
Vivace Chorus
James Turnbull
Rachel Broadbent
Sophie McMillan
Cor Anglais
Susie Thorn
:
Adam McKenzie
Racis Burton
Contra Bassoon
Trombone
Hod
oagson
Dougall Prophet
Rosie Cow
Tuba
Adrian Miotti
Horn
Timpani
:
Martin Grainger
Paul SoRt
Caroline O'Connor
Jason Koczur
:
=
Tristan Fry
Percussion
Janne Metsapelto
David Holmes
Harp
Sally Pryce
13
About Vivace Chorus
Music Director: Jeremy Backhouse
Accompanist: Francis Pott
Chairman: James Garrow
Vivace Chorus has two aims: to make
music of the highest standard and to
have fun while doing so.
The choir has come a long way since it
began over 60 years ago as the
Guildford Philharmonic Choir, gaining
over time an enviable reputation for
performing first-class concerts across a
wide range of musical repertoire.
g
Since 1995, the choir has thrived under the exceptional leadership of our
Music Director, Jeremy Backhouse, ably supported now by Francis Pott.
Jeremy’s passion for choral works and his sheer enthusiasm for music-
making are evident at every rehearsal and every performance, and
Francis is not just a very fine rehearsal accompanist but is also a
composer of international repute and a concert pianist in his own right.
Indeed he was the soloist in our concert last May, giving an acclaimed
rendition of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
~
We relish the opportunity to
|
more
unusual
works such as
Symphony
No.
perform
Mahler's
8,
or
Prokofiev’s
Nevsky as
W
great
Alexander
much
choral
as
the
masterpieces
of Verdi, Bach, Brahms,
Handel or Haydn. At a more
| intimate
home
>
level,
with
the
we
are
at
works
of
Fauré, Tavener, Allegri or
Lauridsen.
Contemporary
music is an |mportant feature of the repertoire and our ‘Contemporary
Choral Classics’ series, which has featured works such as Will Todd’s
Mass in Blue, is designed both to challenge the choir and to promote the
classics of the future.
14
Vivace Chorus
Recent successes have included a sell-out performance of Mahler's
Symphony No. 8, the Symphony of a Thousand’, at the Royal Albert Hall
in May 2011, involving five choirs and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Jeremy, and a performance last November of the Brahms
Requiem which prompted a reviewer to say, “Guildford is indeed most
fortunate to have such a great ensemble in its midst”. In March last year
we made our highly successful debut at tonight’s venue, ‘G Live’, with a
very popular programme, A Night at the Opera. In our May Rachmaninov
concert, alongside the Piano Concerto No 2, we sang extracts from the
Vespers and gave a rousing performance of The Bells and we began the
2012/13 season last November, joined by some members of our sister
choir, the Freiburg Bachchor, with a moving rendition of the Britten War
Requiem — reviewed on page 17.
The final concert this season, in May, will feature contemporary works by
Todd, Mealor, Rutter and Chilcott. We look forward to presenting another
varied programme next season, starting with a concert of contrasting
works by Haydn and Jenkins in November.
In addition to our own concerts, we also sing in various charity concerts,
including the Mayor of Guildford’s annual Carol Concert and with our
stalwart supporters, the Brandenburg Sinfonia, we sing twice a year in
one of London’s popular concert venues, St Martin-in-the-Fields.
We also, on occasion, venture further afield. We have visited Germany
many times over the years to sing with the Freiburg Bachchor. Other
trips abroad have included a tour, in June 2009, of north-west France
when we sang in the cathedrals of Paris (Notre-Dame), Rouen and
Beauvais, while in June last year we headed across France to
Strasbourg, giving concerts also in Germany, in Heidelberg and Freiburg.
We are already planning a tour next year to Verona, when we’ll give
three concerts, in Verona, Bardolino (Lake Garda) and Venice.
If that whets your appetite, come and join
us — new members are always welcome.
We rehearse in Holy Trinity Church, y
Monday
on
Street,
High
Guildford
evenings. Just turn up (at 7.15), or contact
our membership secretary Jane Brooks at
membership@vivacechorus.org.
¢
For further information, do visit our website,
vivacechorus.org, where you can also sign up to receive information
about our concerts, email us at info@vivacechorus.org or follow us on
Facebook or Twitter.
Vivace Chorus
15
Vivace Chorus Singers
FIRST SOPRANO
FIRST ALTO
Carol Hobbs
Polly Andrews
Barbara Barklem
Yvonne
Joanna Bolam
Penny Baxter
Hungerford
FIRST BASS
Phil Beastall
John Britten
Elaine Chapman
Alice Bingham
Margaret Mann
Rachel Edmondson
Jane Brooks
Val Morcom
Susan Norton
Robin Onslow
Jenny Cane
Jacqueline
Stephen Chowns
Michael Dudley
Brian John
Norman
Jeremy Johnson
Margaret
Margaret Parry
Dentskevich
Margaret Perkins
Liz Durning
Beryl Northam
Eric Kennedy
Sheila Rowell
Jon Long
Kate Rayner
Kate Emerson
Prue Smith
Chris Newbery
Gillian Rix
Sheila Hodson
Jo Stokes
Chris Peters
Carol Terry
Pamela Leggatt
Robin Privett
Joan Thomas
Judith Lewy
Rosey Storey
Pamela Usher
Lois McCabe
Anne Whitley
Philip Stanford
SECOND
Kay McManus
Anna Williams
Barry Sterndale-
SOPRANO
Christine Medlow
Jacqueline Alderton
Anna Arthur
Rosalind Milton
June Windle
Elisabeth Yates
Kieron Walsh
Mary Moon
Mandy Freeman
Gill Perkins
FIRST TENOR
SECOND BASS
Marianne llisley
Lesley Scordellis
Mike Bishop
Peter Andrews
Jane Kenney
Bob Bromham
Roger Barrett
Krystyna Marsden
Catherine
Shacklady
Bob Cowell
Alan Batterbury
Kate McGuire
Ann Smith
Owen Gibbons
Norman Carpenter
Isabel Mealor
Marjory Stewart
Tim Hardyment
Rachael Moore
Hilary Trigg
Nick Manning
Debbie Morton
Maggie Woolcock
Martin Price
Dave Cox
Geoffrey Forster
James Garrow
Chris Robinson
Stuart Gooch
Alison Palmer
SECOND ALTO
John Trigg
Nick Gough
Gillian Palmer
Geraldine Allen
Kate Peters
Evelyn Beastall
SECOND TENOR
Neil Martin
Rosalind Plowright
Sylvia Chantler
John Bawden
John Parry
Isobel Rooth
Paula Sutton
Valerie Thompson
Andrea Dombrowe
Peter Butterworth
Michael Taylor
Celia Embleton
Tony Chantler
Elizabeth Evans
Geoff Johns
Christine Wilks
Valerie Garrow
Stephen Linton
Frances Worpe
Jo Glover
Peter Norman
Margaret
Jon Scott
Alison Newbery
Grisewood
David Ross
Bennett
Michael Jeffery
John Thornely
Barbara Hilder
Some of the printed music for this evening's concert has been hired from
Surrey County Council Performing Arts Library,
Novello & Co Ltd Hire Library and
Oxford University Press Music Hire Library.
16
Vivace Chorus
:
Britten War Reqwem 17"‘ November 2012
From a review in the Surrey Advertiser by Chris Mark
ZM
Britten's War Reguiem will, one can confidently predict, receive ]
&~
numerous performances across the globe between now and the
- end of 2013, the composer's centenary year. It is not, though, a work that it is’
* advisable to hear too often, particularly live: the emotional impact is considerable, :
“and can be searing, and is not guaranteed to blunt on repeated hearings. The
- performance at Guildford Cathedral on 17 November gave full measure to the most ' intense moments. Gareth Brynmor John's solo in the later stages of the setting of -
. Wilfred Owen’s 'Strange Meeting', the emotional heart of the work, was particularly . fine, displaying the intelligence, control, and range of nuance one associates with the
NT
baritone for whom the part was written, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He was alsoi
excellent in the more declamatory 'Be slowly lifted up thou long black arm’, with its -
* terrifying - and terrifyingly high - final note. In both he was well supported by
. polished and energetic playing from the chamber orchestra.
/
' The chorus's chorale at the end of the work, and its two earlier manifestations, was - also particularly well done. Singing unaccompanied, with harmony that is not easy to
_ pitch, everyone needs to hold their nerve here, for it is the parting gesture, and the . success of the performance depends heavily upon it. That it came off so well is
- testimony to the hard work of the chorus and the skills of the conductor, Jeremy -
. Backhouse, who conducted throughout with incisive clarity and judicious pacing.
' At its first performance War Reguiem employed two conductors, such are the
. complexities of holding it together. The very large forces are ranged over many
' square feet, and maintaining exactitude of ensemble, especially in a reverberant -
* building like the Cathedral, is not easy, so there were inevitably some small. inaccuracies..and there were some occasional balance problems, too, though some
_ potential ones were triumphantly overcome. The normal positioning of the solo‘ soprano in performances of the work is at the front of chorus, behind the
- orchestra. This presents some challenges of projection. The rather steely tone of
' the singer for whom it was written, Galina Vishnevskaya, was well suited to dealing
- with these challenges, and Alla Kravchuk found a nice blend of steel and lyricism, - soaring luminously at the climax of the In paradisum’ section.
' Anyone singing the solo tenor part is in the invidious position of being compared with °
' Peter Pears. Philip O'Brien doesn't quite have Pears's ability to float, or his range of - Tone, so that the end of the 'Agnus Dei’ was a tad prosaic, though the melodic line in °
- general was strongly shaped and communicated, and he was particularly strong in the
- more dramatic passages.
:
- A final word on the boys' chorus, from Tiffin School: they were terrific. I can't
. imagine their part being better done.
Vivace Chorus
17
Vivace Chorus Patrons
The Vivace Chorus is extremely grateful to all patrons
for their financial support.
Honorary Life Patrons:
Mr Bill Bellerby MBE
Dr John Trigg MBE
Mrs Doreen Bellerby MBE
Premier Patrons:
Dr Michael Golden
Platinum Patrons:
Mrs Rita Horton
Dr Roger Barrett
Mr Laurie James
Mr & Mrs Peter B P Bevan
Mrs Pamela Leggatt
John and Barbara Britten
John and Janet McLean
Mr & Mrs R H R Broughton
Ron and Christine Medlow
Mr Michael Dawe
Dr Roger Muray
Mr & Mrs G Dombrowe
Mr & Mrs John Parry
Mr & Mrs Joseph Durning
Dr & Mrs
Susan and Cecil Hinton
Mrs Pamela Usher
Mrs Carol Hobbs
Bill and June Windle
M G M Smith
Gold Patrons:
Robin and Jill Broadley
Mrs Jean Radley
Mrs Philip Davies
Brenda and Brian Reed
Mr & Mrs Maxwell S New
Prue and Derek Smith
Silver Patrons:
Mrs Iris Bennett
Mr Lionel Moon
Bob & Maryel Cowell
Maggie van Koetsveld
If you have enjoyed this concert, why not become one of our patrons?
We have a loyal band of followers whose regular presence at our
concerts is greatly appreciated. With the valued help of our patrons, we
are able to perform a wide range of exciting music, with world-class,
professional musicians in venues such as Guildford Cathedral, G Live
and the Royal Albert Hall. Patrons enjoy discounts of between 10% &
30% off concert tickets, reserved seating and priority booking for the best
seats for as little as £50pa. If you are interested please contact Joan
Thomas 01483 893178 or email: patrons@vivacechorus.org.
18
Vivace Chorus
A celebration of all things musical, with international names,
rising stars and local talent - all taking place in familiar venues
as well as some unusual spaces.
Audiences say they feel ‘inspired’, ‘exhilarated’, ‘uplifted’ by
i, Live Music!
Festival events; performers say they love the warm responses
g
<~
they receive from Guildford audiences. For audiences and
artists alike there is something special about Festival events
that lingers long in the memory.
music
Check our website for details of events:
———e AN
www.guildfordinternationalmusicfestival.co.uk
Tickets from: 01483 444334 (Tourist Information Centre)
The Electric Theatre Box Office: 01483 444789
University Box Office (University Events only): 01483 686876
—— theatre
film
;
— literature
comedy
www.guildfordinternationalmusicfestival.couk
——— visual arts
Audience comments, Britten War Reguiem,
\?‘:&3’
November 2012
"A complete triumph . . I would like to thank all at
Vivace for making Britten come alive at Guildford
Cathedral. We both consider ourselves lucky that
we have such a first class choir on our door-step .”
"The atmosphere at times was electric and could have been cut with
a knife. A monumental undertaking performed brilliantly.”
“Such an emotional performance. I was almost in tears at the end.”
"The requiem was beyond wonderful, the pause before the applause
at the end, when no one wanted to break the spell, said it all.”
Vivace Chorus
19
Vivace Chorus dates for your diary
Saturday 25TM May 2013, 7.30pm Guildford Cathedral
Join us for a celebration of the best that British choral music has to offer
in this uplifting programme that is perfect for seasoned concert-goers or
first-time listeners alike. We will be singing:
Will Todd’s ethereal Angel Song Il
John Rutter’s Mass of the Children (with the Farnham Youth Choir)
Paul Mealor’'s motet Ubi Caritas et Amor, made famous when sung
at the wedding of TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
and Bob Chilcott’s beautiful Requiem.
The pre-concert talk, which takes place in the Chapter House at 6.30 pm,
will be given by composer and teacher, Steven Berryman. Passionate
about music education, Steven is currently the Assistant Director of
Music at North London Collegiate School and also teaches composition
at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music.
Saturday 16TM November 2013, 7.30pm
Haydn’s Mass in Time of War
Jenkins’ The Armed Man — A Mass for Peace
Advance notice...
On Sunday 18" May 2014 we will be joined in the Royal Albert Hall by
The London Philharmonic Choir, Wimbledon and Twickenham Choral
Societies, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jeremy
Backhouse, for a performance of Verdi’s powerful and moving Requiem,
arguably one of the most loved pieces in the entire choral repertoire. Our
last concert in this magnificent setting, Mahler's Symphony No. 8, sold
out. Tickets, from £8 to £44, are already on sale for the Verdi — to get the
very best seats, buy yours now!
Further details at vivacechorus.org
or from info@vivacechorus.org
Vivace Chorus
Registered Charity No. 1026337
Financially assisted by
[ Ettvides
Printed by WORDCRAFT
115 Merrow Woods, Guildford, Surrey GU1 2LJ
Tel: 01483 560735
20
Vivace Chorus
1b High Street Camberley, Surrey GU153QU Telephone 01276 21791
202 Fleet Road, Fleet, Hants GU51 4BY Telephone 01252 613733
37 High Street, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3DY Telephone 01483 575650
17 Commercial Way, Woking, Surrey GU21 6XR Telephone 01483 766800
W.J
0.UK
We regret that Natalia Brzezinska is indisposed and unable to sing
for us tonight. We are very grateful to Jeanette Ager, who has
stepped in at very short notice to take her place.
Jeanette Ager was awarded an Exhibition to
study at the Royal Academy of Music where she
won numerous prizes. She is now continuing her
studies with Linda Esther Gray.
Jeanette has won the Gold Medal in the Royal
Over-Seas League Music Competition, the
Richard Tauber Prize for Singing and an award
from the Tillett Trust Young Artist Platform.
As a soloist, Jeanette's concert and oratorio work
has included: recitals and other appearances at
the Wigmore Hall; Handel's Messiah at St David’s
Hall, Cardiff; Elgar's Dream of Gerontius at the Queen Elizabeth Hall;
Tippett's Child of our Time at Salisbury Cathedral; Beethoven's 9th
Symphony at the Barbican Concert Hall and the Missa Solemnis at
York Minster, Truro and Exeter Cathedral. In addition to
performances at many of the leading venues in the United Kingdom,
Jeanette's concert work has taken her to Bermuda, the Czech
Republic, Spain and China.
Her operatic roles have included Cherubino in the Marriage of Figaro,
(Mozart); Dido in Dido & Aeneas, (Purcell); The Marquise of
Birkenfield in La Fille du Regiment (Donizetti); Rosina in The Barber
of Seville (Rossini) both for Swansea City Opera and Thea in The
Knot Garden (Tippett). With the Royal Opera House she appeared as
one of the Apprentices in Wagner's Meistersinger at Covent Garden.
As a soloist, Jeanette has recorded for Hyperion, Deutsche
Grammophon and Philips. Future events include Elgar's Sea Pictures
with the RPO; Mahler’'s 2nd Symphony at the Bridgewater Hall and
Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Eton College, Eton.
Jeanette is part of the Artists in Residence Scheme at Queens
University in Belfast where she regularly visits to perform recitals and
to work with the students
G LIVE PRESENTS
_—
AN EVENING OF ELGAR
—_——
Door:3
FRONT STALLS
e
SAT MAr 9, 2013 AT 7:30 PM
Row:H
s
FuLL PRICE
SEAT:22
£23.50
Onben F1885045
CLAYTON
SUBJECT TO BOOKING FEE
UNDER 14S MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT
I‘
London Road, Guildford, GU1 2AA
0844 7701 797
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