Bringing Great Music to Life
This year sees Newcastle Choral Society celebrate 70 years of singing in Newcastle upon Tyne and beyond. To mark the occasion we bring you a rather special concert this summer with Will Todd and Kristina Arakelyan in person.
The main item is the extraordinary Mass in Blue by Will Todd. Will was born in County Durham and has won a worldwide reputation as composer and pianist. Lovers of both choral music and jazz will enjoy this work which brilliantly fuses elements of jazz with strong choral writing featuring solosoprano, saxophone and piano roles, all working together to marvellously dynamic effect.
To celebrate our special anniversary we have commissioned a work from
Kristina Arakelyan who is considered to be a rising star in UK music, among the most prolific and successful composers of her generation.
Her Two Miller Settings are based on poems by American poet Freeman Edwin Miller: My Mollie, O! is a lively song which makes much use of syncopated rhythm and driving piano accompaniment, while
Song of Might is, in contrast, more lyrical and contemplative.
Piano accompaniment Nick Butters.
The commission is supported by the Northumberland Freemasons
Composer Ëriks Ëšenvalds also features in our programme. He has won a number of awards in recognition of his work and held prestigious
positions at Trinity College, Cambridge as well as in his native Latvia. His lovely Only in Sleep recalls fond memories of childhood in dreams.
It is a beautiful combination of melody and harmony for soprano soloist and chorus.
Elizabeth Woods: Soprano
Will Todd: Piano
Malcolm Dick: Drums
Tim Farrow: Bass
Sue Ferris: Saxophone
Musical Director: Mark Anyan
Tickets:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/newcastle-choral-society
£15 (£8 for full-time students & unwaged)
Free for under-18s with a paying adult
Tickets also available on the door (cash or card)
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
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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!
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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.
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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
