Reviews
Young Stars Shine at Mayfield Festival Choir Concert |
10th May 2011 |
St. Dunstan’s Church in Mayfield was filled with the sound of young voices on Sunday 8th May when local school children joined the Mayfield Festival Choir in a performance of John Rutter’s Mass of the Children.
Skipper’s Hill Manor Concert Choir and St. Dunstan’s Intermediate Choir (featuring pupils from Mayfield Primary School) took the stage to sing the children’s parts of the Mass, which was written by Rutter to give children the opportunity to perform alongside adult choirs, and which for some children marked their first experience of singing with an orchestra. During the evening also the children from Skippers Hill Manor School gave a faultless performance of Aaron Copland’s dancing song ‘Simple Gifts’ to the packed audience.
Talented post-graduate students from London’s Royal Academy of Music also joined the Festival Choir to deliver a vibrant and ambitious programme of music, which required the Choir to sing in Czech, Hebrew and Latin under the direction of leading choral conductor Graham Caldbeck. Soloists included tenor Stuart Jackson in a moving performance of Janáček’s Otčenáš; Leo Tomita, who sang the countertenor part in Bernstein’s popular Chichester Psalms and soprano Jennifer France singing alongside baritone Charles Rice, whose home is in Wadhurst. St Dunstan’s Director of Music Andrew Benians played the virtuoso organ parts.
London Primavera, one of Britain’s finest orchestras, provided a colourful addition, featuring only the wind, brass and percussion sections on this occasion. The large, appreciative audience enjoyed its rhythmic percussion and distinctive harp accompaniment, in addition to a performance of Sir Malcolm Arnold’s humorous and catchy instrumental piece Three Shanties for Wind Quartet Op.4.
For its next concert on Sunday 20th November the Mayfield Festival Choir - which has received much acclaim for successfully delivering this challenging programme - will invoke St. Cecilia through the works of Purcell and Handel.
Kate Sanday
Festival Choir pulls off exacting programme |
21st November 2010 |
The Mayfield Festival Choir demonstrated its versatility earlier this week when it performed a varied programme of music accompanied by the London Primavera Orchestra and soloists from London’s Royal Academy of Music.
The evening included something for everyone, from favourites such as Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Regina Coeli to the more contemporary and demanding Stravinsky Mass – unusual in its arrangement of choral and instrumental parts, employing only the wind section of the orchestra. The audience was treated also to a spirited performance by London Primavera of Mozart’s colourful serenade, Serenata Notturna.
The programme concluded with Vaughan Williams’ An Oxford Elegy, powerfully narrated by well-known actor Sir Timothy Ackroyd with the choir and orchestra providing a moving and evocative accompaniment, magnified by the concert’s setting in historic St. Dunstan’s Church, Mayfield. The composition demanded exacting leadership by the Choir’s highly experienced music director and conductor Graham Caldbeck, one of Britain’s principal choral conductors.
The next opportunity to see this highly accomplished Choir perform will be on Sunday 8th May, when the programme will include John Rutter’s Mass of the Children in addition to music by Janáček, the up-and-coming choral composer Tarik O’Regan, Matthew Arnold and the popular Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein.
Kate Sanday
Festival Concert |
9th May 2010 |
Click the image for a higher resolution version (1.4Mb).
Mayfield Festival Choir/London Primavera |
St. Dunstan’s Mayfield |
"Marcus Farnsworth with members of Mayfield Festival Chorus & London Primavera"
There was a buzz of anticipation last night as a full gathering at St Dunstan’s Church in Mayfield sat down to listen to a concert given by Mayfield Festival Choir to celebrate a variety of anniversaries for Purcell, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn and the contemporary composer Jonathan Dove. The choir was accompanied by the London Primavera, leader Paul Manley and conducted by Graham Caldbeck.
The performance opened with Purcell’s ‘O sing unto the Lord a new song’ in which the bass Marcus Farnsworth, hot from winning the 2009 Wigmore Hall International song prize, excelled in the dramatic solos - a name to look out for.
‘Bless the Lord O my soul’ by Jonathan Dove was delivered with dramatic intensity and produced amazing volumes of rich sound and colour effects, highlighting resident organist Andrew Benians magnificently executed organ solos.
The London Primavera did full justice to Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No 10 in B minor and demonstrated ensemble playing of a high calibre.
Mendelssohn’s ‘Hear my prayer’ brought together the soprano soloist and choir in a moving rendition of the famous song ‘O for the Wings of a Dove’ and the first half of the evening ended with ‘Let thy hand be strengthened’, the first of Handel’s 4 coronation anthems.
After the interval we heard the major work of the evening - Haydn’s Maria Theresa Mass written for solo, vocal quartet, chorus and orchestra. This work calls on orchestra and choir to demonstrate a full range of orchestral dexterity and vocal energy. All sections of the choir responded to Graham’s inspired direction and the tenor section, arlthough small in number, were nevertheless able to show a strong, clear tenor line. Mayfield were fortunate to have a team of four distinguished young soloists who excelled themselves in fluency of vocal efforts.
This was a splendid evening of music, with a revitalised choir - a standard of performance that bodes well for forthcoming performances and the 2010 Mayfield Festival.
James Anderson
Last updated: Fri 23/09/11 14:59
