The Market Harborough Choral Society

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Summer concert 2008

"A night at the movies"

I expected the Market Harborough Choral Society's Summer concert "A Night at the Movies" to be all music from musicals so it was a surprise to be told, (tongue-in-cheek I think!), by their musical director, Anselm Kersten, that as he doesn’t like musicals we would not be hearing music from any! What then could we expect? We got a pick and mix of musical treats.

We heard amazing singing of Oscar winning film music. We heard music by composers as diverse as Handel and Bacharach. We heard gentle peaceful music from films about war, which surprised many of us. Barber's Adagio For Strings from the film "Platoon" could have been sung in a cathedral, and Clare Davies' lovely voice singing "The Deer Hunter" was memorable. During the choir's singing of Handel’s "And He shall Purify" from "Charlie Wilson's War", you could hear the helicopters, thanks to the guest percussionist Trevor Roach.

There was fun music too, opening with "Let's go to the Movies" from "Annie" - Anselm let one musical in! - and closing with "New York, New York". We had a medley of music from Bond movies, a comedy song "Usherettes Blues" from Charlotta Hickie, a wonderful unaccompanied rendition of "The Way We Were" from a small group within the society, "Waltzing in the Clouds" (with Pauline Rainey beating Deanna Durban at her own game!) and two beautiful arias from Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" from Erika Hall, Janice Doncaster and Lise Moore. What an evening- and there was plenty more, singers and instrumentalists. The Society's President Phil Gibson (violinist) tore our heart strings with "Schindler's List" and talented young guest, Ben Freestone, on the clarinet and the saxophone, showed just why the Choral Society are sponsoring him as he moves on to Huddersfield University.

The Choral Society had a packed audience for a packed evening of delightful music, and the applause proved how much we appreciated them all.

Vivien Window

40th Anniversary Concert

10 November 2007

Market Harborough Choral Society's choice for this concert was perfect for Remembrance Day and certainly proved how far they have come in 40 years of existence. With over 90 choir members and supported by pupils from Kibworth High School, and members of Leicester Symphony Orchestra, their performance of " The Armed Man, a mass for peace", by Karl Jenkins was one of the most moving events I have attended.

All the concert was exceptional. Before the interval Alan Barraclough played Handel's Organ Concerto in G minor and the choir repeated parts of their inaugural performance, 40 years ago, of Handel's "Messiah". However even this great audience pleaser couldn't match the Karl Jenkins's piece for impact.

"The Armed Man" was commissioned for the millennium celebrations and was initially dedicated to the victims of Kosovo. It used sections of traditional mass interspersed with texts from such various sources as Dryden, Swift, Tennyson, Kipling, the Koran, verse written by a Hiroshima victim and, in a particularly harrowing section, the Hindu Mahabharata. This unusual mix gave us a Muslim muezzin's call to prayer followed by the beautiful Kyrie "Lord have mercy". Then Kipling's "Hymn before action" and Dryden's "Charge!" with its terrifying climax of blaring trumpets, crashing drums and agonised screams of dying, was followed by an eerie silence broken by the evocative sound of the lone trumpet playing "The Last Post". The mass began and ended with the use of the marching L'homme Arme tune, but the final words were "Better is peace".

This was not a concert you could nap through! It was thought provoking, unexpected and most of all, beautifully performed. The founder members of the Choral Society in the audience must have been very proud of the society that they began.

Vivien Window

Summer concert

June 2007

"An English Summer from Purcell to Pop"

The Market Harborough Choral Society is 40 years old this year, and on Saturday night they honoured three members with a presentation. Sheila Nunn, Bernard Colyer, and Roland Whatton have been in the choir since it began. The choir numbers around 70 now and at this concert they certainly showed their versatility. The music chosen, all by English composers from Elgar, Purcell and Handel, to Harrison, Lennon and McCartney and Lloyd Webber, was selected for a summer evening. So we had "Here comes the Sun", and perhaps more appropriately for this June, "As Torrents in Summer"! My personal favourite was a straight, and very sweet, rendition of "Christopher Robin is saying his prayers", it quite took me back to my childhood.

There was plenty of unaccompanied choral singing, readings from John Clare, Jane Austen and Pam Ayres and a chance for individual members of the choir to solo. Clare Davies sang "Where Corals Lie" in her warm contralto voice. Trevor Hazlewood showed again what a fine voice he has with "The Vagabond". Janice Doncaster sang a Shakespeare sonnet and hauntingly singing "Dido's Lament", in a strong alto voice, Jane Callaghan sounded just like Alison Moyet. Her "Remember me" sent prickles down the spine. We even had a Cornish folk song sung as a Barbershop Quartet, with Lady Tenor Sarah Lupton soloing.

However, choir members do more than just sing! Christine Hodgson and Celia Lever - Jones played "English Country Garden" in a piano duet and the surprise of the evening was John Garratt on the ukelele, quite out-doing George Formby with "Leaning on a Lamp-post".

The concert finished with songs from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat". It was an uplifting ending to a very entertaining evening and thanks must go to musical director Anselm Kersten and accompanist Alan Barraclough. Here's to the next 40 years!

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