Farewell Richard
It was a beautiful sunny day at Bolton Abbey, The Priory Church, and we gathered to rehearse and perform our last concert of the season featuring Parry’s – Songs of Farewell. Little did we know at the time of planning it that the title would be particularly poignant. Due to the excellent new lighting system we could see ours scores this time and sang with only a couple of wobbly bits. But the audience did not notice and seemed very
We damned Faust
May the 12th, the weather improved and we all put out a good rendition of the Damnation of Faust. Despite the difficulty of singing in French after just working in German and Latin for the previous concerts we all cracked it and the men of the choruses were magnificent. All the rehearsal effort was worth it. And the reviews were good. On now to our season finale at Bolton Abbey.
It’s Sunny and Glorious Mahler 2
Well, what a fabulous collaboration with the Bruckner Orchester Linz and our fellow singers in the Sheffield Phil. We have been blessed with some of the nicest weather of the year so far, blue sky and sunshine which always lifts the soul. Then what an orchestra ! It could have turned into a mundane repetition as we moved from Edinburgh, Middlesbrough and finally on to Sheffield but no way. Marcus Poschner whipped them up into a lively frenzy before teasing
We have a winner
Leeds Philharmonic Christmas Carol Competition – Winner Announced We held our first Phil Christmas Carol Competition during the autumn of 2017 as part of our charities aim to promote awareness of the beauty and benefits of choral singing. A cash prize of £750.00 together with publication of the winning carol by the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) meant that the competition attracted 110 high quality entrants from around the world. While 75 of the entries came from the UK, there were
Choir Master News
The new season is underway and already we have some exciting news. Richard Wilberforce – our current choir master, has been offered an important career opportunity by the Cambridge University. The Cambridge University Music Society (CUMS) Symphony Chorus has invited him to conduct a performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt on Saturday 25th November. He will take over from Stephen Cleobury in October as choir master for two months, as well as conducting the full-scale concert in Cambridge with this
Chester to Durham and Beamish
Well this season has certainly been busy, ending with four performances in just one week, but what a week. Saturday the 1st July saw us at Chester Cathedral for a fantastic performance with the Chester Festival Chorus and Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra of Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony. We certainly swayed along to the waves on that seating rig. The top row needed seat belts and oxygen masks. But a lovely full house and atmosphere. It was the Festival Choruses last performance and