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Mayor of Guildford's Christmas Concert [2008-12-14]

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Mayor of Guildford's Christmas Concert
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Year:
2008
Date:
December 14th, 2008
Text content:

The Rotary Club of Guildford

and the Vivace Chorus present

Surrey Advertiser
[

A Message from the Mayor of Guildford
| am delighted that the Rotary Club of
Guildford is once again organising this
traditional Christmas concert to support

the Mayor of Guildford’s Distress Fund,
the purpose of which is to support those
less

fortunate

than

ourselves

in

the

Borough of Guildford.
Guildford is a beautiful place in which to
live

and

is

widely

wealthy town.

believed

to

be

a

But there are many who

struggle daily to make ends meet.

The

Mayor's Distress Fund provides small
sums of money to help individuals at a

time of genuine financial difficulty for
such things as school clothing, bed
linen and furniture.
| can assure you that the money is wisely used and | hope you will be

able to spare a small amount at this expensive time of year to help
those less fortunate in our community.
This evening’s concert will also be raising much needed funds for
CHASE, the hospice for children located at Artington on the outskirts

of Guildford.

CHASE is the Rotary Club of Guildford’s chosen charity

for the Rotary year 2008/2009.

| sincerely thank the Vivace Chorus and the Guildford Rotary Club for
this evening’s concert and wish you all a Happy Christmas and a
Peaceful New Year.

/éxm?é/ /fyc,)/f(r\
Councillor Jennifer Jordan
Mayor of Guildford

THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD’S CHRISTMAS CONCERT
|

featuring

THE VIVACE CHORUS
Conductor ~ Jeremy Backhouse
Organist ~ Andrew Earis

This Evening’s Programme
(H.J. Gauntlett arr. David Willcocks)

Audience Carol

Solo

Once in royal David’s city

Choir

He came down to earth from heaven

All

Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild
Jesus Christ her little child.

Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and meek, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Saviour Holy.

And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;

When like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
~D

Choir & Organ

Angelus ad virginem (14" Cent. Irish arr. David Willcocks)
Still, still, still (German Carol arr Philip Ledger)
Audience Carol

(English traditional arr.Vaughan Williams)

O Little Town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight

O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth,

All praises sing to God the King,
All peace to men on earth;

For Christ is born of Mary
And, gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.

Choir only

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!

~ So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven,

No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

~3

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend on us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas Angels,
The great glad tidings tell:
O come with us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
Reading

From ‘Love’s Labours Lost’ (William Shakespeare)
read by Janet Gray

Choir & Organ

A Ceremony of Carols (Benjamin Britten)
(J.F.Wade arr.David Willcocks)

Audience Carol

O come, all ye faithful
Joyful and triumphant
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;

Come and behold him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!

God of God,
Light of Light,

Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s Womb;

Very God,
Begotten, not created,;
O come, let us adore him...
~4~

Sing, choirs of Angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above

Glory to God
In the highest:
O come, let us adore him...
Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

Born this happy morning,
Jesu, to Thee be glory given;

Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing:
O come, let us adore him...
Choir & Organ

Love came down at Christmas
Birthday Carol

(Humphrey Clucas)

(David Willcocks)

INTERVAL
Wine, Soft Drinks & Mince Pies available

Deck the hall

(Welsh trad; arr David Willcocks)

Lullay my liking (arr. Carol Canning)

Audience Carol

The First Nowell the Angel did say,
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;

In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell
Bom is the King of Israel.
~5~

They looked up and saw a star,
Shining in the East, beyond them far,
And to the Earth it gave great light,

And so it continued both day and night.
Nowell, Nowell......

And by the light of that same star,

Three Wisemen came from country far,

To seek for a King was their intent,
And to follow the Star wherever it went.
Nowell, Nowell......

This Star drew nigh to the North-West,
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest,
And there it did both stop and stay,
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Nowell, Nowell......
Then entered in those Wisemen three,
Full reverently upon their knee,
And offered there, in His presence,
Their gold, and myrrh and frankincense.
Nowell, Nowell.....

Then let us all with one accord,
Sing praises to our Heavenly Lord,
That hath made Heaven and Earth of nought,
And with His Blood mankind hath bought.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
Born is the King of Israel.
Choir & Piano

On Christmas Night

(arr. John Bawden)

Reading

Christmas (John Betjeman)
read by Keith McDonald
~
~6

Audience Carol

(English trad; arr. David Willcocks)

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day,
To save us all from Satan’s power,
When we were gone astray;

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.
From God our Heavenly Father,
A Blessed angel came;

And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same;
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.

O tidings of comfort........

The shepherds at these tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flock a feeding,
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
The blessed babe to find
O tidings of comfort......
Choir only

But when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;

His Mother Mary kneeling down,
.

Unto the Lord did pray.

O tidings of comfort......

All

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas

All others doth deface
O Tidings of comfort and joy.....
~T
~

Choir & Organ
Mid-winter (Bob Chilcott)

The Holly and the Ivy (arr. John Gardner)

Address by the Mayor of Guildford ~ Councillor Jenny Jordan
Introduced by Neil Ritchie ~ President of the Rotary Club of Guildford
Audience Carol

(Charles Wesley arr.Mendelssohn)
Hark! the herald-angels sing
Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled:

Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark! the herald-angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Christ by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of a virgin’s womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald-angels sing......

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings;
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald-angels sing......

Encore

We wish you a Merry Christmas ! [a cappella]
~8
e~

THE VIVACE CHORUS
FIRST TENORS

FIRST SOPRANOS

FIRST ALTOS

Joanna Andrews
Helen Beevers

Penny Baxter

Bob Cowell

Monika Boothby

Tim Hardyment

Mary Broughton

Jane Brooks

lan Landsborough

Yvonne Budd
Miranda Champion
Elaine Chapman

Christine Curtis
Liz Durning
Celia Embleton

Nick Manning

Jillian Doran

Rachel Edmondson

Sue Fletcher
Ingrid Hardiman

SECOND TENORS

Mo Kfouri

Christine Medlow

John Bawden

Chris Robinson
John Trigg

Hilary Minor

Rosalind Milton

Bob Bromham

Susan Norton

Mary Moon

Tony Chantler

Robin Onslow

Penny Muray

Geoff Johns

Rachel Owen

Marjory Rollo

Stephen Linton

Margaret Parry

Lesley Scordellis

Martin Price

Margaret Perkins
Kate Rayner
Judy Smith

Catherine Shacklady
Claire Taylor

FIRST BASSES

Hilary Trigg

Tom Bayliss

Nikki Vale

Pamela Woodroffe

John Britten

SECOND SOPRANOS

SECOND ALTOS

Michael Golden

Jacqueline Alderton

Valerie Adam

Jeremy Johnson

Anna Arthur

Marion Arbuckle

Eric Kennedy

Barbara Barklem
Anna Durning
Mandy Freeman
Veronica Johnson

Deborah Bayliss
Evelyn Beastall
Sylvia Chantler
Mary Clayton

Chris Newbery

Jane Kenney

Andrea Dombrowe

Judith Lewy

Tony Budd

Chris Peters
Andrew Pink

Valerie Edwards

Robin Privett
David Ross
Philip Stanford

Krystyna Marsden

Elisabeth Evans

Kieron Walsh

Elizabeth Massey
Lois McCabe
Enid Millinger
Debbie Morton

Valerie Garrow

Alison Newbery

Carol Hobbs
Sheila Hodson
Yvonne Hungerford
Brenda Moore
Jacqueline Norman

Alison Palmer
Kate Peters

Rosalind Plowright
Susannah Priede
Vivien Rieden

Claire Hann

SECOND BASSES

Barbara Hilder

Peter Andrews

Susan Hinton

Roger Barrett
Norman Carpenter
Dave Cox
Geoffrey Forster
James Garrow
Nick Gough

Katharine Pink

Roger Hardiman

Isobel Rooth
Ann Sheppard

Prue Smith

Michael Jeftery

Rosey Storey

Kathy Stickland
Paula Sutton
Pauline Wakeford
Christine Wilks

June Windle
Elisabeth Yates

Neil Martin
Maxwell New

Frances Worpe

John Parry
Roger Penny

Chris Short
Michael Taylor

THE VIVACE CHORUS
The Vivace Chorus came into being in May 2005, when the former Guildford
Philharmonic Choir ‘rebranded’ itself to reflect its new independent status.

The Choir was founded in 1947 and recently celebrated its 60" season.

Under the baton of our musical director Jeremy Backhouse, the Choir
“enjoys singing a varied and challenging repertoire, performing works from
the 16" Century onwards — some well known — but also rarities deserving to
be heard by a wider audience.

In our 2004/05 season, we introduced our Contemporary Choral Classics
Cycle (CCCC), an innovative series of works from the late 20TM and 21°
century, which are featured in several of our recent concerts.

Our first concert of the 2006/7 season included three delightful choral works
by Hugo Wolf, a composer whose works are virtually unknown in the UK.
The Music Makers, which followed, was quintessentially English featuring

well-loved works by Elgar, Parry and Vaughan-Williams. But the highlight of
that year was undoubtedly our third ‘CCCC’ concert and our first ever foray
Here we sung and swung to the music of Bob
into the world of jazz.
Chilcott, John Rutter and especially Will Todd’s Mass in Blue, accompanied
by the composer, complete with his jazz trio and his outstanding soloist wife,
the soprano Bethany Halliday. Following this successful collaboration, we
have commissioned a new work from Will Todd, which will be premiered at
our next CCCC concert in May 2009.

To start our 2007/8 season, our programme of music by French composers
was sung only with organ or unaccompanied and this was followed by our
Viennese Masters concert with works by Bruckner, Haydn and Mozart.
Another concert featured Karl Jenkin’s Requiem with other works by Britten,
Faure, Elgar, Barber and Mahler.

We now regularly sing in a ‘Last Night of the Proms’ charity concert to a

packed Fairfield Halls in Croydon. With our good friends the Brandenburg
Sinfonia, we sing at least once a year in the inspiring venue of St. Martin-inthe-Fields, performing works such as Mozart's Requiem. And not forgetting
our annual appearance at the Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert every

'

December.

If you are interested in singing with us, please contact Jane Brooks at
membership@vivacechorus.org Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings
in central Guildford and prospective members are most welcome to come
along on an informal basis before committing to an audition.
For more
information, please see our website at www.vivacechorus.org
~
~10

THE ROTARY CLUB OF GUILDFORD
The Rotary Club of Guildford was formed in 1921
and was only one of six such Clubs that existed
in Britain at that time.

Today, there are 1500

Rotary Clubs in the UK alone with one million

members.

Besides the original 1921

Rotary

Club, there are two other Rotary Clubs in the
town
the Guildford District Club and the
Guildford Chantries Club.
One of the Club’s earliest fund-raising projects in the 1920s was its

‘Big Brother’ scheme, which was launched to help youngsters, who
had lost their fathers during the First World War.

In 1927, the Club

embarked on another scheme to raise enough money to install new

radio sets in the Royal Surrey County Hospital for the patients.
In the mid 1960s, significant contributions were made by the Rotary
Club of Guildford to prepare the way for the building and opening of

the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and the establishment of the University of
Surrey on Stag Hill.
Projects initiated by the Rotary Club of Guildford in recent years have

included

financial

support for

Rotary

International’s

Jaipur

Limb

project, which provides artificial limbs and mobility aids for those who
have lost arms or legs.

The Jaipur Limb project now has 24

permanent limb centres operating in India and Africa.

The Rotary Club of Guildford also continues to raise money to support

Calcutta’s

Eye

Hospitals.

Thanks to the Guildford

Rotary Club’s

Calcutta Eye Project, there are now 25 hospitals in operation in the
Calcutta district alone and these hospitals save the sight of 30,000
patients every year.

Last year, the Rotary Club’s fundraising efforts were focussed on a

local Guildford-based charity the Oakleaf Enterprise.

Located in

Guildford’s Walnut Tree Close, this independent charity helps those

with

mental

health

difficulties

lead

independent,

productive

and

fulfilling lives by training them in the skills of Furniture Restoration, IT,

Printing, Catering, Horticulture and Upholstery.

This year’s fundraising focus for the Rotary Club of Guildford is the
This well-known Guildford based
local children’s hospice CHASE.
support to families and young
and
charity exists to provide help
children, who are not expected to reach their nineteenth birthday.

The proceeds from tonight's concert, plus the retiring collection, will
be divided between CHASE and the Mayor of Guildford's Distress
Fund.

FORTHCOMING CONCERTS BY VIVACE CHORUS

COME & SING WITH VIVACE CHORUS
Saturday, January 17" 2009 : Normandy Village Hall

Join us and our musical director Jeremy Backhouse to sing
Handel's ‘ZADOK THE PRIEST’, Rutter's ‘GAELIC BLESSING’ and
Lauridsen’s ‘LUX ALTERNA’. 10am to 4.30pm plus Refreshments

Saturday, March 7' 2009 : Guildford Cathedral : 7.30pm

plus other Baroque works by Monteverdi, Gabrieli and Schutz

WILL TODD PREMIERE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Rotary Club of Guildford would like to thank the following people
and organisations for their help in staging tonight’'s concert :-

Jeremy Backhouse ~ Andrew Earis ~ Rev. Robert Cotton
Members of the Vivace Chorus ~ The Surrey Advertiser
The Parish of Holy Trinity and St. Marys, Guildford
The Inner Wheel Club of Guildford

BBC Southern Counties Radio ~ County Sound Radio, Eagle 96.4
~
~12

(.

s