CONCERT SUMMARY
| 13-Nov-10 | Catalan Connections Post-Barcelona trip concert | St Barnabas Cathedral, Derby Road, Nottingham |
| 12-Dec-10 | Christmas Carol Concert | Patchings Farm Art Centre, Calverton |
| 14-Dec-10 | Charity Christmas Concert in aid of Alzheimer's Society, Nottingham | St Mark's Church, Woodthorpe, Nottingham |
| 26-Mar-11 | Antonio Teixeira's Te Deum with the Derwent Singers | Derby Cathedral |
| 27-Mar-11 | Antonio Teixeira's Te Deum with the Derwent Singers | Southwell Minster |
| 09-Apr-11 | A Choral Festival including Walton's 'Belshazzar's Feast' with Derby Bach Choir | The Round House, Derby |
| 02-Jul-11 | In Praise of Music with Alistair Parnell - Saxophone | West Bridgford Methodist Church |
Sagrada Familia
In October we travelled to Sabadell, near Barcelona, and sang with Coral Belles Arts, a local choir. We performed in Sabadell, Montserrat, the Abbey at Sant Cugat, and Barcelona itself (in Santa Maria del Mar). The Sabadell Concert was organised by the Federacio Catalana d'Entitats Corals as part of a season featuring a large number of Catalan choirs. Four choirs in all took part in our concert, and we finished up singing folk-song arrangements together: two Catalan and one Scottish.This season has a strong Iberian connection: Autumn took us to Catalonia (literally) and Spring to Portugal (figuratively).
The Coral Belles Arts and their conductor Esteve Costa were excellent hosts, and we learned a great deal about Catalunya and the importance of their choral music tradition.
The music developed for this trip formed the basis of the November concert, Catalan Connections, of which Grahame Whitehead of the Nottingham Evening Post wrote (pardon our bragging):
' ... This was choral singing at its best. It went beyond technical excellence, however, and the enjoyment and engagement of the singers were unmistakable ... a glorious wave of sound ... energy and power ... beautifully conveyed a sense of mysteries beyond words ...'
The year ended with our usual Christmas concerts.
Antonio Teixeira's exhilarating Te Deum was our New Year project for the 'Come and Sing' in January and the March concerts. We believe that this was the première outside London of this great but unknown work by the eighteenth-century Portuguese composer. There were two performances, on the 26th and 27th March, once in Derby and once in Southwell, in collaboration with the Derwent Singers, a Derby-based choir also conducted by Richard Roddis, and the Baroque Ensemble, again led by Nicolette Moonen. Most of the solo sections were sung by members of the choirs, except for four florid soprano solos, which were performed by Clare Devine. Mike Wheeler's review described the Derby performance as 'one of Derby's outstanding musical events of 2011.'
On 9th April we took part in a Choral Festival, hosted by the Derby Bach Choir at the Derby Round House. Five other choirs and the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra were also involved under the baton of Richard Roddis. The programme included Walton's Belshazzar's Feast and his Festival Te Deum, Parry's I was glad, and an Alleluia by Randall Thompson.
July took us to the West Bridgford Methodist Church for our third Summer Concert there - In Praise of Music - teaming up again with Alistair Parnell, saxophonist.
