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GPC
Editor: Margaret Dentskevich
Guildford Philharmonic Choir
NEWSILETTER
June 2000
Issue No. 4
GAILA CONCERT, uth MARCH, 2000
St. Matthew Passion, by J.S. Bach performed in Guildford Cathedral with the Freiburger
Bachchor, the Surrey Youth Choir and the Brandenburg Sinfonia.
The Gala Concert was held as part of Guildford’s Millennium Celebrations.
It also celebrated 21 years of the twinning of Guildford and Freiburg and 10 years of the
twinning between the Freiberger Bachchor and the Guildford Philharmonic Choir.
We were pleased to welcome our many friends from Freiburg and to thank them for
contributing, over the years, to making the relationship such a success.
Press Review - Surrey Advertiser
Celebrating 21 years of the twinning of Guildford and
the Guildford Philharmonic Choir was
Freiburg,
joined by its German counterparts, the Freiburger
Bachchor and that splendid orchestral ensemble,
the Brandenburg Sinfonia, for a performance of
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, in the cathedral on
Saturday.
St Matthew is the more reflective of Bach’s
two great settings of the Passion narrative.
However, drama is far from absent, and in the interjections of the often angry crowd, the combined
choirs cut through the acoustic.
If in the first chorus some voices stood out
overmuch, the texture soon settled down to a pleas-
ing homogeneity,
and the singing exuded confi-
dence.
The Surrey County Youth Choir's small, but important contribution, the ripieno chorale in the opening
chorus, came through clearly.
The conductor Jeremy Backhouse worked extremely hard to keep his forces together. The result
was a very creditable performance in imposing, if
acoustically, less than ideal surroundings. Above all
the spiritual message of Bach’s great work rang true.
Shelagh Godwin
Behind the scenes - Putting up the tiered staging
Every time we perform a concert in the cathedral, a
band of volunteers gathers at 9.00 am to assemble
the staging.
It is an exacting task, but the gang work well together and it is satisfying to see it set up and ready
for the evening. Then, immediately after the performance, it is all taken down and put away by a
team now augmented by more eager choir members: still elegantly dressed in their concert finery.
It comes down much quicker than it goes up!!!
The GPC has become so skilled in quick and accurate rigging (and de-rigging) that we are much in demand by other choirs participating in the scheme.
The Tiered Staging is the brain-child of our Secretary
and Concert Manager, Stephen Jepson. Back in
1995 Stephen had become very frustrated with the
effect that the Cathedral's acoustic had on choral
performances. The Association of Surrey Choirs
(GPC ,GCS, Epworth and Surrey Festival) was
i
%
Getting the lower levels in place
formed to purchase and administer
the staging for use by the participating choirs in the Cathedral.
The necessary funds were raised
and the Cathedral agreed to provide
storage for the material. Stephen
|
strove to find a design thatwould
to
and
choirs
participating
the
all
suit
obtain the best deal with the available funds. Eventually a final specification was agreed and the order was
placed with Stage Systems of Loughborough.
Since the staging is built using mainly standard components, it can be used in a large variety of ways, and
can indeed be used at other venues (as either a flat or
a stepped stage for orchestras, ensembles and drama
groups).
The member choirs of the ASC are delighted with
their investment. The effect of the "wall of sound” concept has been universally acclaimed by audiences as
an immense improvement on the old arrangement.
Nearly ready for the concert
at the sole discreThe staging is available for hire for suitable purposes within the Cath edral or, exceptionally, in other suitable venues,
o.uk
ys.freeserve.c
jepson@feldays
at
e-mail
by
or
fax)
or
phone
(
730383
01306
on
Jepson
Stephen
contact
Please
tion of the ASC.
Pictorial mementos of the Freiburqg Visit
Cornelia takes a bow
Christopher and Peter seem to be
having an interesting chat
Norman and Bob tried to keep order on their table
Some people
had to queue !
Jackie and Chris kept Christophe amused
The Surrey County Youth Choir
(SCYC)
When we sang the St Matthew Passion in the cathedral in March we were accompanied by young ladies from the SCYC, who sang the ripieno parts,
but many of us knew little about the SCYC, so here
is a little inside information:
e
The SCYC has been around for over 12
years.
e
¢
ltis a full SATB choir.
It recruits through schools and by word of
mouth.
e
They perform two concerts a school term,
e
They practice one evening a week in
on average.
Woking.
e
e
They are always on the lookout for new
members (particularly young men and
altos, at present)
New members have a formal audition
after a few weeks.
The choir's repertoire comprises many standard
works written for adolescent voices, plus contemporary works which they specifically commission.
Last term they held a concert in St James’s
Church, Piccadilly,
where they performed the
Faure Requiem, with some Vivaldi, Lassus and
Palestrina. They were accompanied on the organ
by our very own Jeremy Filsell, who described the
choir and the overall concert as ‘most impressive’.
In May SCYC heard that they had succeeded in
reaching the National finals of the Festival of Music
for Youth.
This will involve a day at London’s
South Bank on 4TM July.
20 choirs have been se-
lected in national competitions to participate and
the SCYC is thrilled to have been chosen. If they
do well in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, they could well
be invited to sing in the Schools’ Prom Concerts at
the Royal Albert Hall in November.
SCYC really enjoyed singing with the GPC and
hope that they will be invited to take part in other
concerts. Most of their youngsters continue singing after leaving the Youth Choir for university.
Many of them will return later and be looking for a
choir to sing with - hopefully some will think of joining the GPC.
Sue O’Connell (SCYC Administrator)
Future Concerts
Belshazzar’s Feast,
by Sir William Walton will be performed at the Civic Hall on 10th June, 2000.
Sir William Walton (1902-1983)
William Walton was born in Oldham,
The blockbuster, Belshazzar’s Feast was written in
Lanca-
1931.
shire, to a musical family.
-
His work sounds spontaneous, but he could be no-
He was a chorister at Christ Church
toriously slow at composing : he was held up for
Cathedral at Oxford, and later
studied at the university.
eight months wondering which note to set to the
He left
word ‘gold’ in Belshazzar.
Oxford without a degree, and from
1920 lived with the Sitwell family in
phonies, and marches for the coro-
London.
nations of King George VI and
The three Sitwell siblings, all budding
poets,
Later Walton wrote
music for a number of films, as well as operas, sym-
Queen Elizabeth II.
introduced him to many major
musical and literary figures of the
time,
including Delius,
Diaghilev, and T.S. Eliot.
His first notable composition was the suite,
Sir William was knighted in 1951.
Facade (1923), composed to accompany recita-
His last years were spent on Ischia
tions of poems by Edith Sitwell and used in 1931 as
near Naples, a favourite haunt of
the score for the highly successful ballet Facade.
fellow Lancastrian, Gracie Fields.
Further compositions such as Portsmouth
He remained a active composer
Point (1925) and his Viola Concerto (1929) resulted
until his death there in 1983.
in national and inter-national popularity.
Cartoon by John Minnion
And then ......
1L ooking Forward to our Autumn Concert... ...
On 28th October, we will be singing in the Cathedral again :
Haydn : Insanae et vanae curae
Mozart : Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K550
Mozart : Mass in C Minor
(That'll keep us busy for a while !!!)
Fund-raising - co-ordinated by Jackie Alderton
Car -boot Sale, Saturday 29th April, 2000
At the end of a week in which it seemed to rain nonstop, this Saturday ( 6-15 am) dawned clear and
bright: just the day for a Car-Boot Sale !!
Slyfield
Market was the venue.
The old hands arrive as early as 5-00am to
get their best pitch.
As late-comers, at 7-10am, we
had to make do with what seemed to be a very quiet
backwater near the café ( handy for tea and coffee),
the cattle pens ( good for hanging out the clothes attractively) and the toilets ( for obvious reasons). We
nearly didn’t set up our stall there, but were glad that
we did,
because we had an almost non-stop stream
of customers.
We always display the GPC
banner and tell customers they are
contributing to choir funds.
(P.S. My garage was so full
we were afraid of disturbing our resi-
dent robin, but it is still there, despite
our comings and goings, guarding its
nest and four eggs.)
We would like express our thanks to those of
you who donated so many items for us to sell on be-
half of the choir.
( Please keep them coming in).
We raised about £250 for the choir.
Jackie
100 Club - Noreen Ayton
The 100 Club is open to all past and present members of the Guildford Philharmonic Choir.
Numbers are renewed annually for £12 payable on the 1% April, and profits go to choir funds.
New share-holders are welcome, as we’d like to sell all the 100 numbers for the whole season.
A draw is made at the first rehearsal of each month.
Draws in June and December of each
year are special. Please talk to me at rehearsal, or phone 01932 221918 if you're interested.
The winner of the £100 December prize was Maggie Koetsfeld.
[Month
JANUARY
FEBRUARY |
(MARCH
APRIL
MAY
£20
54 M. Dentskevich
|36 Roger Barratt
54 M.Dentskevich
33 Geoff Forster
13 lIris Ball
£15
60 Colin Jameson
92 Noreen Ayton
|88 Jane Kenney
87 Joy Hunter
44 Peter Herbert
£10
[78
Susan Hinton
|68
|29
44
Kathleen Aldridge
Max New
Peter Herbert
|77
Chris Wilks
Future Fund-raising Events to look out for:
GPC Grand Summer Plant Sale
to be held on 5th June during the rehearsal, in aid of Choir funds.
And don’t forget to bring those
Lots of lovely plants to buy !
extra plants for Hilary to sell !
The Great Duck Race
The Event of the year !
To be held at Merrist Wood on 3rd July.
Some Lucky Duckies must win - they might be yours!
Listen for further information at Monday rehearsals.
Choir Notelets are available every week at rehearsals,
now at a new low price of
4 cards for £1
Laurie has a supply ready for sale during rehearsals.
|
Our own specially designed cards are very useful for writing short notes,
1 birthday greetings, thank-you letters etc.
Members and personalities
The arrival of Backhouse Junior
Members of the choir were a little apprehensive on the 11th March, the day of the
Gala Concert, because they knew that the birth of Jeremy’s baby was imminent.
How would we manage if Jeremy was urgently called away ?
However, all was well for us and little George Backhouse made his
appearance later in the week.
We were all delighted to hear the good news the following Monday.
Now we would like to send our con-
gratulations and best wishes to Jeremy and Sally on the birth of their lovely new son.
George at 6 weeks:
Baby - report from Jeremy
Likes:
Feeding, being cooed over, weeing over
George William was born on Thursday, 16" March
Daddy, being sick over Mummy, his Tiger baby-
at 11.23 am at Lewisham Hospital with a fine pair of
grow, the music of Mahler,
lungs!
Because he was just over 3 weeks early he weighed
in at only 5lb 30z, but robust and fighting fitt
Neighbours, and
snooker.
He has
Dislikes:
since started to feed really well and has gained a lot
Having his nappy changed, bath-time, mid-
of weight.
wives brandishing sharp pointy things that get stuck
in the foot, builders, Alan Titchmarsh, Manchester
United and the music of John Rutter,
Sally and Jeremy with 2 day-old George
George at 6 weeks
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New Members
Carole Elliott
Valerie and Alec Leggatt Alto 1 and Bass1
Alto 1
Carole found out about the GPC by
‘surfing the web’ and found our website ‘irresistible’.
Before 1994 Carole lived in Scotland,
where she did a lot of singing in Edinburgh. She has sung in student and
cathedral choirs, and in a jazz ensemble in Guildford. She says that her favourite music
has to be: Bach, The Beatles and Oscar Peterson.
Formerly Carole was an Office Manager for a
firm of ‘American loan sharks’ in London, but now
married, she has a full-time job looking after a tractor-mad toddler, Lewis. She finds the GPC fun,
warm and friendly.
Alto 2
nne comes from a village in Germany,
bout 1% hours drive SE from Frankfurt. She arrived here in September
1999 to work as a volunteer with the
| YMCA in Guildford, while doing a ‘gap’
ear, and will return home in August.
n Germany Anne sang with a local
She likes almost all kinds of music - from foreign folk to ‘modern’. Anne enjoys going to the
theatre and acting in plays. She was recommended
to join the GPC by Gillian Rix and Richard Austin,
and now enjoys being with us, as she says the atmosphere is very friendly and it's easy to get to know
| Valerie joined the GPC
| about a year ago, when she
| felt like a change of choir.
| She enjoyed it so much that
| she insisted that Alec join
too.
-
Previously they have sung together with the London
Orpheus, Haslemere Choir and the Waverley Singers. Now retired, they live in the Farnham area and
have three grown-up children and four grandchildren. Alec likes skiing and sailing. Valerie enjoys
the Arts and gardening.
Valerie really enjoys very modern music (e.g.
Birtwhistle) and is interested in the way that music is
developing now. She would like us to perform more
modern music. Alec prefers relatively recent music
and Baroque. They both think that the GPC is a very
enjoyable choir to be in. They find the musical direction and organisation terrific, and the atmosphere
friendly and relaxed.
Tenor 2
Johny Larssen
Johny came to Guildford from Stockholm last December with his job as a
Business Analyst in the Computer Industry. In Sweden, he started singing
as a child. He has sung in a local
church choir, the Royal Philharmonic
~ Choir, Stockholm, and a small chamber
people.
Anne commented on the good German pronunciation in the GPC !! - this was when we were practising for the St Matthew Passion earlier in the year.
Lois McCabe Soprano 1
Lois has lived in Guildford for
bout 14 years, with her husband and
two children : Katherine (16yrs) and Peer (17 yrs). Previously she has sung
ith the Guildford Singers and the
| Chantry Singers, but after a break from
" singing, she was persuaded to come
along to try the GPC by Sheila Hodson.
Lois likes aerobics, fithess and reading. She has
catholic taste in music, but particularly likes folk music , jazz, and singing in the church choir. She thinks
the GPC is very friendly and well organised.
His hobbies include skiing and travel. The GPC
web-site was the reason that Johny joined the GPC
and he has been with us since the beginning of the
year. He finds the rehearsals well disciplined and
members very welcoming.
If you would like to make a
comment or suggestion for an item to
be included in a future edition,
please don’t hesitate to contact me,
elther durmg rehearsal, or on 01483 768789
,
Margaret Dentskevich, Editor
Newsletter design and layout are by Margaret Dentskevich, (based on work done by Rod Cuff in previous
issues).
Printing is by courtesy of Alison Rawlinson’s company ARCS.