Dear Friends

The sad news of the death of our Queen arrived just as this newsletter was going to be sent out. We would like to honour this gracious lady by performing pieces which we know were meaningful to her, and we will take this opportunity to commemorate her dignified reign, and life.

The concert will take place on Saturday November 5^th, 7.30pm at Beeston Parish Church. Our music will reflect the celebratory nature of the Platinum Jubilee, as we perform works from the extensive reigns of the two Queen Elizabeths, linking the past with the present. There will be a wonderfully varied selection of music, including works by William Byrd, Judith Weir, Benjamin Britten and Gerald Finzi, amongst others.

Music played a large part in the life of Elizabeth I (1533 – 1603). She was an accomplished musician who played virginals, the lute and also sang. As a powerful ruler, she could act as a patron and many songs were written in praise of her – reflecting her connection to God, and also to the people.

Throughout her 70-year reign, Elizabeth II supported classical music and the arts. She actually studied music herself and enjoyed a wide variety of styles, as was reflected in her list of favourite songs! From this compilation (easy to find on the internet), we will be singing Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek (1934/35), which Fred Astaire sang in the musical Top Hat. The Queen was also the patron of numerous musical charities, attended many events and honoured some wonderful musicians.

Born circa 1540 (d. 1623), the great English composer, William Byrd, began his professional career as organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral. In 1570, he obtained the post of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, which expanded his networking and composing possibilities. He shared the post of organist with the talented Thomas Tallis, with whom he also printed and marketed part-music and lined music paper. Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558 – 1603) had granted them a monopoly for this venture. Byrd was a prolific composer over many genres, creating partsongs, fantasias, dances, consort songs, 3 Latin Masses, 4 Anglican Services and over 180 motets. He was a Catholic in an Anglican state and he and his wife were known to be recusants but Byrd managed to stay in favour with the Queen, composing for her and avoiding major punishment (apart from heavy fines). He was also writing Masses for Catholics to use secretly and we will be singing one of these - his beautiful Mass for Four Voices (1592/93). The settings lacked title pages, dates and the name of the printer and it is thought that this made them harder to trace, therefore anyone involved could avoid potential arrest. They were also published in single bifolia so they were easier to conceal. Times change, of course, and now the pieces are commonly heard in Anglican cathedrals.

Jumping forwards, Judith Weir was born in 1954 into a Scottish family but grew up near London. In 2014 she was appointed to the 395-year old royal post of Master of the Queen’s Music and has written operas, theatrical works, instrumental, solo and choral pieces, as well as for national and royal occasions. Her delightful setting of I Love All Beauteous Things was commissioned by the Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 90^th birthday of HM The Queen. The words are by Robert Bridges (1844-1930), who was Poet Laureate in the year Elizabeth II was born (1926).

Benjamin Britten’s Jubilate Deo (1961) was written for St George’s Chapel, Windsor at the request of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Despite the fact that the Duke actually chose this as one of the pieces of music to be played at his funeral, this 4-part choir and organ piece is lively and uplifting.

We will also be singing O Taste and See, the quietly moving piece written by Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) for the 1953 Coronation service. A set of 10 partsongs A Garland for the Queen was also created for this occasion (performed the evening before) and this collection echoes The Triumphs of Oriana (1601), a volume of madrigals by different composers, written in praise of Elizabeth I and published by Thomas Morley. 

You will be pleased to hear that our talented accompanist, Michael Overbury, will also be playing Byrd’s Fantasia in C (BK25) and Walton’s Crown Imperial for the concert. We look forward to hearing his accomplished performance of these treats.

We are really looking forward to presenting some beautiful music from these eras, under the expert direction of our conductor, Richard Roddis, and it would be marvellous to see you all at our concert. Tickets are £15 (£7 for full-time students under 21) and include a glass of wine or fruit juice. They are available from our website  or from Sandra Wakefield on 0115 9606236.

Best wishes,

Sinfonia Chorale

Dear Friends,

Summer is fast approaching and with it our July concerts!

Saturday the 2nd of July, 7.30pm, at St Mary’s Church, Lowdham sees our Music for a Summer’s Evening programme, which will include a varied selection of songs and short choral pieces. Palestrina’s O Holy and Glorious Trinity, Kodaly’s Matra Pictures and Ernst Toch’s Geographical Fugue are amongst the delights on offer.

Our wonderful accompanist, Michael Overbury, will be with us for both concerts. We will also be joined by a special guest on Saturday evening – Magnus Hawker-French, who is an accomplished trombone player (accompanied by Rachel Johnson on piano). Magnus was Nottingham’s Young Brass Player of the year in 2019 and has performed at various venues across Nottingham.

Please come and join us for what should be, a lovely concert - we would love to see you there!! 

Tickets are £10 (£5 for students under 21) and are available from: 

• The Bookcase, 50 Main St, Lowdham,
• The Sinfonia Chorale website
• contact Sandra Wakefield on 0115 9606236.

On Sunday the 3rd of July we will be performing at the lovely St Peter’s Church, Tollerton, NG12 4FT, at 3.00pm. 

Magnus will not be joining us there but we will be singing a selection of pieces from those sung at Lowdham. 

Tickets, available from Norma Smith on 0115 9373814 or Ruth Hartley on 0115 9376968 will be £10, and include a delicious cream tea with prosecco or fruit juice. 

We hope that you are having a delightful Spring and we look forward to seeing you in July!

Best wishes to you all,

Sinfonia Chorale

Dear Friends,

Spring is coming, the sun is shining and we are eagerly preparing for our March concert! 

Perhaps some of you attended the Come and Sing day in January – according to feedback a good time was had by all, with people really appreciating the opportunity to sing again after such a long time. We are so glad that people felt safe and enjoyed themselves. 

We also hope that many of you will be able to join us on March 19th, 7.30pm at St Martin’s Church, Sherwood (tickets £15, including refreshments) for the Stabat Mater concert. 

Our talented accompanist, Michael Overbury, will also be treating us to some wonderful organ music, so please put the date in your diary and visit our website for more details!

The Stabat Mater is a sacred Catholic text, originating in the 13th century, which portrays the suffering of the Virgin Mother on witnessing the crucifixion of her son, Jesus Christ. The physical and emotional anguish lends itself to being expressed musically and there have been numerous settings of this text by many composers.

Born in 1710, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (family name Draghi) composed his Stabat Mater just before he died of tuberculosis in 1736. Despite a short life, he was an important early composer of opera buffa (comic opera) and worked for aristocratic patrons such as the Duke of Maddaloni. As well as operatic works, he wrote secular instrumental pieces and other sacred music. This beautiful, intensely moving Stabat Mater was composed for soprano, alto, string orchestra and basso continuo but we will be performing an arrangement for SATB chorus by Desmond Ratcliffe.

Antonio Caldara was born in Italy around 1670 and died in Vienna in 1736, where he had been Vize-Kapellmeister to the Imperial Court since 1716. As a boy, he was a chorister at St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice and had also studied cello, keyboard and the viol. Caldara was a prolific and popular composer, exhibiting great mastery over a wide variety of styles, including opera, chamber and sacred. His Stabat Mater (composed ca. 1725) is a dignified work, allowing for great emotional expression from the performers.

Our final choice of Stabat Mater is one composed around 1890 by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839 – 1901). He was born in Liechtenstein but resided in Germany for most of his life. During a successful career of over 45 years, he published nearly 200 compositions, as well as being a professor of counterpoint and organ. In his earlier years he had been a virtuoso pianist and organist, until a disease affected his right hand, putting an end to his performing. This is the shortest version of the Stabat Mater in our programme, divided into 4 sections and described as having a ‘popular-traditional quality, using some baroque rhythms and ending in a quiet fugue’ (www.stabatmater.info).

These pieces are a delight to sing and aptly demonstrate the very different possible interpretations of one text. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful music too and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Best wishes to you all,

Sinfonia Chorale

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Sinfonia Chorale during these uncertain times. We hope that you are all coping as well as possible with the difficulties that life has been throwing at us lately.

We have just resumed rehearsals after such a long time of trying to practise together via Zoom meetings, with backing tracks and Richard valiantly conducting! It’s lovely to be able to sing together again in the same room, albeit keeping more distance from each other, sanitising chairs and with some people wearing masks! After the enforced ‘hibernation’ it is wonderful to stretch the muscles, awaken one’s vocal folds, and get those endorphins flowing!

Providing we are still allowed to, we will be performing Brahms’ uplifting German Requiem and also his popular Liebeslieder Waltzes on Saturday November 20th, 7.30pm, at St John’s Church in Carrington. On piano we will be enjoying the marvellous combined talents of Michael Overbury and Philip Robinson. Not to be missed!

Composed in 1868, using text from Polydora by Georg Friedrich Daumer, the light and enjoyable Waltzes explore, over 18 relatively short movements, the myriad of emotions that being in love can stimulate. In contrast, our longer work (The German Requiem) uses words from the Luther Bible and is sacred but non-liturgical. Composed between 1865 and 1868, the piece might have been inspired by the death of his mother but, rather than being a Mass for the dead, this cleverly crafted work moves from darkness to light, giving hope to the living and comforting those who are grieving, which is a sentiment that definitely resonates with most people around the world today.

We would love to welcome you all back to enjoy a concert and hope that you feel comfortable enough to attend. The church is quite a large, airy space and, naturally, audience members can wear masks and sanitise, whilst we will continue to follow any precautions that the current government guidelines suggest. Tickets will be £15 and include a drink of wine or fruit juice. Please contact Teresa Marchewicz on 0115 9140525 with any enquiries, or visit our website 

Looking further ahead, we hope to present a Christmas concert in Rainworth Parish Church on Tuesday December 14th at 7.30pm. Please join us for some Christmas jollity! 

After New Year, on Saturday January 22nd, 2022 (starting at 10am), we are hoping to hold a Come and Sing event at Bramcote Parish Church. This will explore some beautiful settings of the Stabat Mater and, if you are interested, more details on how to book are available from our website.

Thank you so much for your support over the years – we are looking forward to seeing you again and sharing an uplifting musical experience!

Keep well,

Sinfonia Chorale

Dear Friends

The day you’ve all been waiting for (maybe!) has arrived at last… Sinfonia Chorale’s latest virtual choir performance is here! Our rendition of Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium is now on YouTube 

This marks a year’s passing since we performed this piece in the Cathedral Church of St Barnabas, Nottingham, before the lockdowns started and Choir rehearsals were halted. Hopefully, we will all be able to meet up again soon and actually hold a concert!

We send our very best wishes to you all and hope that our performances might provide a little bit of springtime joy after this difficult year.

Sinfonia Chorale