Saturday 16 March 2024 7.30pm Banqueting Suite, Newcastle Civic Centre Orchestra North East Soprano : Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson Alto : Heather Jill Burns Tenor : Austin Gunn Bass : Andri Björn Róbertsson Musical Director : Mark Anyan Tickets £20 with Free Programme Free for under – 18’s with a paying adult £10 Full – time students & unwaged Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society Card payments or cash on the door Our first concert of 2024 featured two very different settings of the Roman Catholic Mass. Haydn’s Nelson Mass was followed by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass. Haydn’s foremost biographer and leading authority H C Robbins Landon has described the Nelson Mass as arguably the composer’s greatest single composition. Praise indeed when one considers the huge output of music in all genres that Haydn composed, most of which has become firmly established in the modern repertoire. Certainly the work is full of the energetic tunefulness and lyrical beauty one associates with Haydn, added to glorious and virtuosic solo writing alongside great chorus work, all accompanied by orchestration which benefits from the composer’s long experience of writing instrumental music. Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass sets the text musically in a way that takes one from the vastness of the universe to the familiarity of Earth with the development of our self-awareness and life in civilised society. The composer sees this as a metaphor for a spiritual journey transcending conflict and dissonance. The music is constantly appealing, written for chorus and strings from which colourful and atmospheric effects are imaginatively drawn. It is a modern work, dating from 2018, providing a fine and contrasting companion to the...
Following on from the successful collaborative concert in June 2022, NCS are delighted to be joining the Newcastle Youth Choir once more for ‘A Christmas Concert’ in the Banqueting Suite of Newcastle Civic Centre at 19.00 on Saturday 02.12.2023 North Tyneside Youth Symphony Orchestra will also be performing Featuring a combined performance of ‘The Night Before Christmas’ by Oliver Tarney a fun setting of the classic Christmas poem featuring bursts of well-known carols such as, God rest ye merry, gentlemen, O little town of Bethlehem, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas (well-suited to audience participation.) Also featuring ‘On Christmas Night’ by Bob Chilcott and ‘Sleigh Ride’ by Leroy Anderson. Tickets priced at £6 each or £20 for a family ticket (plusbooking fee). Email hello@newcastlesings.org, visit...
NEWCASTLE CHORAL SOCIETY is recruiting! Musical Director Mark Anyan Join our friendly choir as we celebrate 70 years of choral excellence, with three exciting concerts, culminating in our Anniversary Concert in 2024 Saturday 15 June 2024 7.30pm Newcastle Civic CentreMass in Blue with the composer Will Todd and his Trio‘Driving jazz grooves and clear, strong, choral writing!’ Plus our newly commissioned piece by renowned composer Kristina Arakelyan, funded by Northumberland Freemasons STEP ONE! Did you take it? Come and Sing with us Faure Requiem Saturday 11 November 2023 All Saints Church Akenside Hill Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3UF Musical Director Mark Anyan We welcomed guest singers into the beautiful setting of All Saints and enjoyed the Vocal Technique session with Mary Hitch. Mary is a freelance vocal coach and singing teacher and is the Study Leader in Singing at The Glasshouse (formerly) Sage Gateshead’s Young Musicians Programme, in which she coaches the most talented young singers in the north-east. NCS Accompanist Nick Butters Nick became the accompanist for Newcastle Choral Society in December 2021. He teaches and plays at the Centre for Advanced Training at the The Glasshouse and regularly accompanies the cellist, Deborah Thorne and soprano Mary Hitch, and the Wordsworth singers. Nick accompanied us at the Come and Sing. Mark Anyan NCS Musical Director took over for the rest of the session as we worked through the sublime Faure Requiem. We enjoyed a well deserved break for drinks and cakes – lots of them, before finishing the afternoon with a Beatles classic ‘And I love her’ Lots of lovely comments from our guest singers as they headed home. We hope some will be able to try us out as potential members....
A MIDSUMMER CELEBRATIONTraditional and Contemporary Choral works from Handel to Hagenberg, Boulanger to Beach including ‘Zadok the Priest’ and ‘I was Glad’. Saturday 24th June at 19.30 in Trinity Church Gosforth Soprano: Mary HitchSoprano: Katie OswellPiano: Nick ButtersOrgan: Kris ThomsettMusical Director: Mark Anyan £12 with free programme Free to under 18s with a paying adult(£6 for those in full time education or registered unemployed)Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-societyCard payments or cash on the door There will be a Pay bar in the interval – CASH ONLY please Our midsummer concert consists of a wide variety of music drawn from different periods. Monteverdi, Vivaldi and Handel, Mozart, Fauré and Parry are included as well as Ola Gjeilo Morten Lauridsen is currently one of America’s most performed composers,whose Sure on this Shining Night provides us with the title for our programme. We are also pleased to perform a number of works by female composers. Music written by women has often been unjustly neglected in the past but is now being given the attention it fully merits. Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger and Elaine Hagenberg provide a substantial contribution to our programme. In addition to the United Kingdom we visit the USA, France, Italy, and Norway.Quiet, contemplative music and rousing, joyful choruses provide great contrast and there are two items which, conforming with tradition, accompanied important sections of the recent coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, namely I Was Glad and Zadok the Priest.We are sure you will find much to enjoy in this well-chosen programme. FOR NOW Sing with Us – Two FREE sessions remaining: Discover: what it is like to sing with NCS. We are coming to the end of a series of monthly open rehearsals. Only Two more remain so come along at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 22 May and 12 June. We started these sessions in February in great style, some participants choosing to come each week, in all sections. Join in – it’s not too late to get a flavour of NCS as we prepare a selection of choral favourites for our Summer Concert. These include works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, the latter choice, a sure winner to bring a tear to the eye! Sing with us in performance in the lovely setting of Trinity Church Gosforth on 24 June at 7.30pm! Beyond that become a fully fledged member of NCS and enjoy a rewarding choral experience with exciting opportunities ahead! Whats not to...
NEW Sing with Us – FREE sessions: Discover: what it is like to sing with NCS. We are running a series of monthly open rehearsals at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 20 March,17 April, 22 May and 12 June. We started these sessions in February in great style, some participants choosing to come each week. Hurrah for Sopranos and Altos but we would love to welcome Basses and Tenors! Join in as we prepare a selection of choral favourites for our Summer Concert, including works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, the latter choice a sure winner to bring a tear to the eye! Sing with us in performance in the lovely setting of Trinity Church Gosforth on 24 June at 7.30pm! Beyond that become a fully fledged member of NCS and enjoy a rewarding choral experience with exciting opportunities ahead! Whats not to...
Soprano : Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson
Alto : Heather Jill Burns
Tenor : Austin Gunn
Bass : Andri Björn Róbertsson
Musical Director : Mark Anyan
£20 with Free Programme
Free for under – 18’s with a paying adult
£10 Full – time students & unwaged
Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
Card payments or cash on the door
Haydn’s Nelson Mass was followed by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass. Haydn’s foremost biographer and leading authority H C Robbins Landon has described the Nelson Mass as arguably the composer’s greatest single composition. Praise indeed when one considers the huge output of music in all genres that Haydn composed, most of which has become firmly established in the modern repertoire. Certainly the work is full of the energetic tunefulness and lyrical beauty one associates with Haydn, added to glorious and virtuosic solo writing alongside great chorus work, all accompanied by orchestration which benefits from the composer’s long experience of writing instrumental music.
Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass sets the text musically in a way that takes one from the vastness of the universe to the familiarity of Earth with the development of our self-awareness and life in civilised society. The composer sees this as a metaphor for a spiritual journey transcending conflict and dissonance. The music is constantly appealing, written for chorus and strings from which colourful and atmospheric effects are imaginatively drawn. It is a modern work, dating from 2018, providing a fine and contrasting companion to the Haydn.
Following on from the successful collaborative concert in June 2022, NCS are delighted to be joining the Newcastle Youth Choir once more for ‘A Christmas Concert’ in the Banqueting Suite of Newcastle Civic Centre at 19.00 on Saturday 02.12.2023 North Tyneside Youth Symphony Orchestra will also be performing
Featuring a combined performance of ‘The Night Before Christmas’ by Oliver Tarney a fun setting of the classic Christmas poem featuring bursts of well-known carols such as, God rest ye merry, gentlemen, O little town of Bethlehem, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas (well-suited to audience participation.)
Also featuring ‘On Christmas Night’ by Bob Chilcott and ‘Sleigh Ride’ by Leroy Anderson.
Tickets priced at £6 each or £20 for a family ticket (plusbooking fee). Email hello@newcastlesings.org, visit www.newcastlesings.org/nycp
Learn More
Musical Director Mark Anyan
Join our friendly choir as we celebrate 70 years of choral excellence, with three exciting concerts, culminating in our Anniversary Concert in 2024
Saturday 15 June 2024 7.30pm Newcastle Civic Centre
Mass in Blue with the composer Will Todd and his Trio
‘Driving jazz grooves and clear, strong, choral writing!’
Plus our newly commissioned piece by renowned composer Kristina Arakelyan, funded by Northumberland Freemasons
STEP ONE! Did you take it?
Musical Director Mark Anyan
We welcomed guest singers into the beautiful setting of All Saints and enjoyed the Vocal Technique session with Mary Hitch. Mary is a freelance vocal coach and singing teacher and is the Study Leader in Singing at The Glasshouse (formerly) Sage Gateshead’s Young Musicians Programme, in which she coaches the most talented young singers in the north-east.
NCS Accompanist Nick Butters Nick became the accompanist for Newcastle Choral Society in December 2021. He teaches and plays at the Centre for Advanced Training at the The Glasshouse and regularly accompanies the cellist, Deborah Thorne and soprano Mary Hitch, and the Wordsworth singers. Nick accompanied us at the Come and Sing.
Mark Anyan NCS Musical Director took over for the rest of the session as we worked through the sublime Faure Requiem. We enjoyed a well deserved break for drinks and cakes – lots of them, before finishing the afternoon with a Beatles classic ‘And I love her’
Lots of lovely comments from our guest singers as they headed home. We hope some will be able to try us out as potential members.
NEW Sing with Us – FREE sessions:
Discover: what it is like to sing with NCS. We are running a series of monthly open rehearsals at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 20 March,17 April, 22 May and 12 June.
We started these sessions in February in great style, some participants choosing to come each week. Hurrah for Sopranos and Altos but we would love to welcome Basses and Tenors!
Join in as we prepare a selection of choral favourites for our Summer Concert, including works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, the latter choice a sure winner to bring a tear to the eye!
Sing with us in performance in the lovely setting of Trinity Church Gosforth on 24 June at 7.30pm!
Beyond that become a fully fledged member of NCS and enjoy a rewarding choral experience with exciting opportunities ahead! Whats not to like!
Learn More
Soprano: Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson
Alto: Elizabeth Hogarth
Tenor: Austin Gunn
Baritone: Ben Noble
Orchestra North East
Musical Director: Mark Anyan
Saturday 11 February 2023 7.30pm
BANQUETING SUITE NEWCASTLE CIVIC CENTRE
£18 with free programme Free to under 18s with a paying adult
(£8 for those in full time education or registered unemployed)
Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
Card payments or cash on the door
Pay Bar in the interval
For our first major concert in 2023 and with the disruption of Covid behind us, we brought you Handel Messiah, probably the most popular of all oratorios.
Rendered musically in moving arias and rousing choruses, the oratorio foretells of His coming and His birth, through His life experiences such as His rejection and suffering, to His Death and beyond, as well as His influence on our own lives.
We were delighted to welcome back soprano Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson who sang so movingly at our May 2022 Sage Gateshead concert. NCS combined with Hertfordshire Chorus with their conductor David Temple to perform Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and James McCarthy’s Codebreaker which was commissioned by Herts Chorus and emotionally portrays the life of Alan Turing
We also were delighted to welcome back Elizabeth Hogarth as alto, Austin Gunn with his fine tenor voice and for Ben Noble, his first time performing not only for NCS, but also the bass role in Messiah, and boy, did he relish every moment!
and then we have:
SING WITH US
From February 2023 we will be running a series of monthly open rehearsals on the following Mondays 20th February, 20th March, 17th April, 22nd May and 12th June.
Discover what it is like to sing with NCS and prepare a selection of choral favourites, including works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, for our Summer concert. You will be able to join the choir in performance at Trinity Church in Gosforth, at 7.30pm on 24 June.
Contact enquiries@newcastlechoralsociety.org.uk for more details and to book a place.
Learn More
Newcastle Choral Society
Musical Director Mark Anyan
Mozart Requiem and Vivaldi Beatus Vir
Bethany Partridge: Soprano
Sarah Lucy Penny: Alto
Richard Pinkstone: Tenor
Greg Link: Bass
Saturday 1 February 2020, 7.30pm
BANQUETING SUITE, NEWCASTLE CIVIC CENTRE
We were very proud of this (almost) sell out concert! Super soloists, powerful Orchestra North East and masterful Mark Anyan driving us on to give a really exhilarating performance. Lots of great comments from the orchestra ‘brilliant’, our regular audience members ‘world class singing’, and those new to NCS.
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Our festive offering this year was in Trinity Church Gosforth on Saturday 7th December 2019:
Christmas at Home and Away
Musical Director Mark Anyan
Special Guests : Mouthful
The exciting 4-piece a Cappella vocal group who gave us 2 sets of really unusual and exciting singing!
Warren Smith accompanied us in style on the magnificent organ and piano. He had his own solo spot playing Toccata by Georgi Mushel
Lucy Anyan, the 8 year old daughter of Musical Director Mark Anyan, sang the treble solo for the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City. Lucy was very confident and sang beautifully!
Mark and Lucy Anyan with Warren Smith
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Roderick Williams Baritone
BRITTEN ‘WAR REQUIEM’
Newcastle Choral Society (NCS) was delighted to be the guest choir of Cleveland Philharmonic Choir (CPC), along with Northern Spirit Singers for this magnificent performance held in Sage One on Saturday 10th November 2018.
We joined the Choristers of Durham Cathedral and St Peter’s Church Stockton, Cleveland Philharmonic Junior Choir, and the Mowbray Orchestra. The acclaimed soloists were the magnificent baritone Roderick Williams, his voice deemed by an audience member to be ‘like melted chocolate’ wonderfully expressive tenor Mark Padmore and thrilling soprano Rachel Nicholls who sat amongst the choir. The Conductors were led by the commanding John Forsyth MBE, Gary Matthewman, and Daniel Cook, Master of the Choristers, Durham Cathedral. The details of the concert can be viewed here
A wonderful evening and a thrill to perform alongside CPC!
We sang to a hugely appreciative audience totalling 1111 and received rapturous applause as well as many post concert plaudits!
…“fantastic, marvellous performance, most impressive, never boring. Well done!
...Astonishing’ ‘Astounding’’ A triumph’ ‘Magnificent’…
Learn More
A MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION
Traditional and Contemporary Choral works
from Handel to Hagenberg, Boulanger to Beach including ‘Zadok the Priest’ and ‘I was Glad’.
Saturday 24th June at 19.30 in Trinity Church Gosforth
Soprano: Mary Hitch
Soprano: Katie Oswell
Piano: Nick Butters
Organ: Kris Thomsett
Musical Director: Mark Anyan
£12 with free programme Free to under 18s with a paying adult
(£6 for those in full time education or registered unemployed)
Available online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
Card payments or cash on the door
There will be a Pay bar in the interval – CASH ONLY please
Our midsummer concert consists of a wide variety of music drawn from different periods. Monteverdi, Vivaldi and Handel, Mozart, Fauré and Parry are included as well as Ola Gjeilo
Morten Lauridsen is currently one of America’s most performed composers,
whose Sure on this Shining Night provides us with the title for our programme.
We are also pleased to perform a number of works by female composers. Music written by women has often been unjustly neglected in the past but is now being given the attention it fully merits. Amy Beach, Lili Boulanger and Elaine Hagenberg provide a substantial contribution to our programme.
In addition to the United Kingdom we visit the USA, France, Italy, and Norway.
Quiet, contemplative music and rousing, joyful choruses provide great contrast and there are two items which, conforming with tradition, accompanied important sections of the recent coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, namely I Was Glad and Zadok the Priest.
We are sure you will find much to enjoy in this well-chosen programme.
FOR NOW Sing with Us – Two FREE sessions remaining:
Discover: what it is like to sing with NCS. We are coming to the end of a series of monthly open rehearsals. Only Two more remain so come along at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 22 May and 12 June.
We started these sessions in February in great style, some participants choosing to come each week, in all sections.
Join in – it’s not too late to get a flavour of NCS as we prepare a selection of choral favourites for our Summer Concert. These include works by Handel, Mozart, Lauridsen and Hagenberg, the latter choice, a sure winner to bring a tear to the eye!
Sing with us in performance in the lovely setting of Trinity Church Gosforth on 24 June at 7.30pm!
Beyond that become a fully fledged member of NCS and enjoy a rewarding choral experience with exciting opportunities ahead! Whats not to like!
Learn More
NCS is delighted to bring you our 2022 WASSAIL Christmas Concert, free from all the restrictions that Covid brought to bear! The main piece ‘Wassail’ by Alexander L’Estrange was commissioned by United Learning’s Partnership Fund.
The original ‘Wassail’ artwork was completed by Kettering Buccleuch Academy in Northamptonshire, inspired by working with Alexander L’Estrange. Wassail / wassailing itself means many things:a drink, a cup, a dance, a celebration, carol-singing – lots of that on:
Saturday December 10th Trinity Church Gosforth
We also feature selections from Bob Chilcott’s On Christmas Night, with his own settings of familiar carol melodies in an impressive array of styles and moods. Accompaniment from Nick Butters our own talented accompanist, and our guest organist Kris Thomsett Assistant Director of Music at Newcastle Cathedral.
It’s time for Audience participation after the interval – a selection of the season’s favourites where you can join with the choir to swell the sound and be a part of the whole evening!
Adam Bushnell Storyteller adds another dimension to our concert following his first successful appearance with us in June 2018. A qualified teacher, experienced storyteller and published author, he works to inspire a love of reading and creative writing amongst children and adults alike.
Our concert is dedicated to the memory of Hazel Gowdy who died a year ago to the exact date of the concert, not long after enjoying her 80th birthday celebrations with her family. A pivotal member of the Alto section, she joined the choir in 1997, rarely missed concerts, stepping in as an accompanist and a deputy choir leader when needed. We miss her greatly.
Ticket information £15 with free programme. Free to under 18s with a paying adult (£8 for those in full time education or registered unemployed) Available online at
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
Card payments or cash on the door.
Or email enquiries@newcastlechoralsociety.org.uk
Interval Refreshments: £1: Mince pie and soft drink only. What’s not to like!
DIARY DATE 2023
