The Rotary Club of Guildford
and the Vivace Chorus present
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THE MAYOR OF GUILDE@RD’S
CHRISTMAS
A CONCERT
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse
in aid of the
MAYOR’S LOCAL
DISTRESS FUND
-
Sunday
15th Dec 2013
7pm Holy Trinity Church
Guildford
g
CUILDFORD
B
OR
O
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD
Councillor Diana Lockyer-Nibbs
Il
As First Citizen of our beautiful and historic
borough, | am honoured to be welcoming
you here this evening.
|
hope you are
looking forward to it as much as | am.
|
am
sure
tonight's
Concert
will
be
a
welcome break for those of us who are
busy preparing for sharing Christmas with
our families,
but
as
performance,
|
would
we
enjoy
ask
tonight’s
you
all
to
remember that for many people in our local
community
time,
Christmas
due
to
can
financial
be
a
difficult
and
other
circumstances.
Guildford has a number of charities, who
:
work hard all year round to ensure that the
less fortunate among us receive vital support when it is needed, but the
demand is even greater at this time of year.
By attending tonight’s Concert
you will be helping one such charity, the Mayor of Guildford’s Local Distress
Fund, which provides small sums of money to local residents who are
struggling to make ends meet.
Your generosity will help ensure that these
Guildford people will always have somewhere to turn in times of need.
|t
only remains for me to thank you all for attending tonight.
My special thanks go to the The Vivace Chorus for presenting this fabulous
Concert, and of course the Rotary Club of Guildford without whom The
Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert would not happen.
| would also like to thank them for holding a retiring collection for my other
chosen charity, SAVI (Surrey Association for Visual Impairment).
| have
personal experience of visual impairment and SAVI has given me years of
invaluable support, the work they do gives people the courage to face new
challenges.
| wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Councillor Diana Lockyer-Nibbs
Mayor of Guildford
TONIGHT'S CHARITY
THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD'S
LOCAL DISTRESS FUND
Established in 1971, the fund was originally known
as the Mayor of Guildford's Christmas and Local
Distress Fund.
It is a
registered
charity with
a
clearly-defined
purpose : to provide financial assistance to the
needy within
Guildford
Borough,
particularly at
Christmas time.
The fund receives requests from all areas of the community and has
helped individuals and groups with a wide variety of needs.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY HELPING THOSE WHO
CANNOT AFFORD THE BASICS.......... such as..........
e
Buying shoes and clothing for children from very poor families
e
Washing machines, Fridges, Cookers, and Kettles
for those unable to afford such necessities
e
Playgroup fees for less advantaged children
e
Modest holidays for families, following a trauma
Requests for assistance should come from a third party, such as a
Borough Councillor, Housing Officer or an official agency, like the
Citizen's
Advice
Bureau,
Community
Health
or
Social
Services.
This helps to ensure that your donations are spent wisely and that
assistance is given only to deserving cases.
WITH YOUR HELP, WE REALLY CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Registered Charity number : 258388
5
THE MAYOR OF GUILDFORD'S CHRISTMAS CONCERT
featuring THE VIVACE CHORUS
Conductor : Jeremy Backhouse
Organist : William Nicholson
THIS EVENING'S PROGRAMME
Welcome by the Rev. Jonathan Hedgecock
Choir
Audience Carol
This is the Truth
(Bob Chilcott)
(English Trad. arr.Vaughan Williams/Willcocks)
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,
And praises sing to God the King,
And 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.
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 to 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 to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
Wexford Carol
(arr. John Rutter)
The Shepherds' Farewell
Reading
(Hector Berlioz)
Shepherd's Pipe Carol
(John Rutter)
Christmas is for Love
(Anon)
read by Jackie Alderton
Audience Carol
(Este's Psalter : arr David Willcocks)
While shepherds watched their flocks by night
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down
And glory shone around.
'Fear not', said he, for mighty dread,
Had seized their troubled mind;
Glad tidings of great joy | bring
To you and all mankind
To you in David's town this day
Is born of David's line
A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign.
The heav'nly Babe you there will find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands
And in a manger laid.
Thus spake the seraph, and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels praising God, who thus
Addressed their joyful song.
~4
~
All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Goodwill henceforth from heav'n to men,
Begin a never cease.
Choir
Christmas Night
(Arbeau 1588 :arr John Rutter)
Good King Wenceslas
Audience Carol
(arr.David Willcocks)
(J.F.Wade : arr. David Willcocks)
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...
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.......
~5~
Sweet was the song
(from 'On Christmas Night : Chilcott)
Rejoice and be merry (from 'On Christmas Night : Chilcott)
INTERVAL
Wine, Soft Drinks & Mince Pies available
Choir
Alleluya, a new work is come to hand
A maiden most gentle
Audience Carol
(Peter Wishart)
(French trad. arr : Andrew Carter)
(English Trad. arr. Arthur Sullivan & David Willcocks)
It came upon a midnight clear
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their hearts of gold;
Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heav'ns all-gracious King!
The world in solemn stiliness lay
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O're all the weary world;
Above its sad and lonely plains
They bend on hovering wing;
And ever oO'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
Oh hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
~6
~
For lo! The days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When, with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendours fling,
And the whole world gives back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Choir
The Christ-child
Reading
The holly and the ivy
(Will Todd)
(John Gardiner)
Advent 1955
(John Betjamin)
read by Mike Bishop
Audience Carol
(English Trad. arr. David Willcocks)
God rest you merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this 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 and joy, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
~7
~
The Shepherds at these tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding,
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed babe to find
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
Choir only
But when to Bethlehem they came
Whereat this infant lay,
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
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, comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
Here we come a-wassailling
A merry little Christmas
(arr. John Rutter)
(Goff Richards)
Address by the Mayor of Guildford
Councillor Diana Lockyer-Nibbs
Introduced by the President of the Rotary Club of Guildford
Mr. Grant Connell
Audience Carol
(Charles Wesley : arr. Felix 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
Glory to the newborn King.
Encore
We wish you a Merry Christmas !
(English trad. arr. Arthur Warrell)
~9~
THE VIVACE CHORUS
FIRST SOPRANOS :
Pam Alexander, Helen Beevers, Joanna Bolam, Polly Andrews, ,
Rachel Edmondson, Mo Kfouri, Susan Norton, Gillian Rix,
Carol Terry, Rosemary Spalding
SECOND SOPRANOS :
Jacqueline Alderton, Anna Arthur, Isabel Mealor,
Krystyna Marsden, Debbie Morton, Alison Newberry,
Kate Peters, Valerie Thompson, Isobel Rooth, Paula Sutton,
Christine Wilks, Frances Worpe, Marianne Llisley
FIRST ALTOS :
Barbara Barklem, Monika Boothby, Sheila Hodson, Liz Durning,
Gill Perkins, Lois McCabe, Rosalind Milton, Judith Lewy, Lesley Scordellis,
Catherine Shacklady, Carol Sheppard, Hilary Trigg, Maggie Woolcock
SECOND ALTOS :
Valerie Adam, Evelyn Beastall, Sylvia Chantler, Andrea Dombrowe,
Margaret Grisewood, Barbara Hilder, Carol Hobbs, Beth Jones,
Jacqueline Norman, Prue Smith, Jo Stokes, Rosey Storey,
Anne Whitley, June Windle
FIRST TENORS :
Mike Bishop, Bob Bromham, Owen Gibbons, Martin Price, John Trigg
SECOND TENORS :
:
Peter Butterworth, Tony Chantler, Stephen Linton, Peter Norman, Jon Scott
FIRST BASSES :
Phil Beastall, John Britten, Michael Golden, Brian John, Jeremy Johnson,
Eric Kennedy, Malcolm Munt, Chris Newbery, Adrian Oxborrow,
Peter Pearce, Chris Peters, Robin Privett, David Ross,
Philip Stanford, Kieron Walsh
SECOND BASSES :
Peter Andrews, Roger Barrett, Alan Batterbury, Norman Carpenter,
Dave Cox, Geoffrey Forster, James Garrow, Stuart Gooch,
Michael Jeffery, Michael Taylor
~10
~
ABOUT THE VIVACE CHORUS
The
Vivace
Chorus
has two aims: to make
music of the highest
standard and to have
fun
while
doing
so.
The choir has come a
long
way
since
it
began over 60 years
ago as the Guildford
Philharmonic
Chair,
gaining over time an
performing
"
first-class
concerts across
enviable reputation for
a wide range of musical
repertoire.
Since 1995, the choir has thrived under the exceptional leadership of
our Music Director, Jeremy Backhouse, ably supported by pianist
Francis Pott.
Jeremy’s passion for choral works and his sheer
enthusiasm for music-making are evident at every rehearsal and
every performance, and Francis is not just a very fine rehearsal
accompanist but is also a composer of international reputation and a
concert pianist in his own right.
We consider ourselves very
fortunate to have musicians of this calibre at the helm.
We relish the opportunity to perform more unusual works such as
Mahler's Symphony No.8 or Prokoviev's Alexander Nevsky as much
as the great choral masterpieces of Verdi, Bach, Brahms, Handel or
Haydn.
At a more intimate level, we are at home with the works of Fauré,
Tavener, Allegri or Lauridsen. Contemporary music is an important
feature of the repertoire and our ‘Contemporary Choral Classics’
series, which has featured works such as Will Todd’s Mass in Blue, is
designed both to challenge the choir and to promote the classics of
the future.
~11
~
Recent successes have included a sell-out performance of Mahler’s
Symphony No. 8, 'the Symphony of a Thousand’, at the Royal Albert
Hall in May 2011 and a highly acclaimed performance last November
of Britten's War Requiem.
Following our full house debut at 'G-Live'
in March 2012 with A Night at the Opera, this new first-rate concert
hall was packed again for our Elgar concert earlier this year.
We rounded off the season with a wonderful weekend of music
making
in Charterhouse School chapel,
recording a selection of
choral favourites, old and new, for a CD entitled Viva Vivace, which
can be purchased this evening at the ticket desk.
We
look
forward
to
presenting
another
varied
programme
this
season, concluding with another grand scale production in the
Royal Albert Hall, this time of the ever-popular Verdi's Requiem.
In addition to our own concerts, we also be singing in various charity
concerts, including with our stalwart supporters, the Brandenburg
Sinfonia, with whom we sing every year in one of London's most
popular
concert
venues
St
Martin-in-the-Fields
and
of
course
tonight's Christmas concert to raise funds for the Mayor of Guildford's
Local Distress Fund.
We
also,
on
occasion,
venture
further afield.
We
have
Germany many times over the years to sing with the
visited
Freiburg
Bachchor. Other trips abroad have included a tour, in June 2009, of
north-west France when we sang in the cathedrals of Paris (NotreDame), Rouen and Beauvais, while in June 2012 we headed across
France to Strasbourg, giving concerts also in Germany, in Heidelberg
and Freiburg. We are already planning a tour next year to Verona,
when we will give three concerts, in Verona, Bardolino (Lake Garda)
and Venice.
If that whets your appetite, do come and join us! New members are
always welcome.
For
vivacechorus.org
where
more
information,
you
can
also
do visit our website,
sign
up
to
receive
information about our concerts, email us on info@vivacechorus.org
or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
~12
~
JEREMY BACKHOUSE
JEREMY BACKHOUSE is one
of Britain's leading
conductors
amateur
He began his
choirs.
of
musical career in Canterbury
Cathedral, where he was Senior
Chorister.
In 1980, he was
appointed Music Editor at the Royal
National Institute of Blind People,
where he was responsible for the
transcription of print music into
Braille. In 1986, he joined EMI
:
Records as a Literary Editor and from April 1990 combined his work as a
Consultant Editor for EMI Classics and later Boosey
& Hawkes Music
Publishers, with his career as a freelance conductor.
Jeremy has been the sole conductor of the Vasari Singers since its
inception in 1980. Since winning the prestigious Sainsbury’s Choir of the
Year competition in 1988, the Vasari Singers have performed regularly on
the South Bank and at St John'’s, Smith Square in London, as well as in the
cathedrals of Canterbury, Chichester, Winchester, Hereford, Peterborough
Ely, and Westminster Abbey.
Jeremy and the Vasari Singers have
broadcast frequently on BBC Radios 3 and 4, and have a discography
of nineteen CDs on the EMI Eminence, Guild and Signum labels.
In January 1995, he was appointed Chorus Master of the Guildford
Philharmonic Choir, working closely with conductors such as David
Willcocks, Jonathan Willcocks, Vernon Handley and Edward Gardner.
When the choir went independent and became the Vivace Chorus, Jeremy
became its Conductor and Music Director.
In May 2003 he conducted a
thrilling performance of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” (No.8), which
work he inspirationally repeated in front of a capacity audience in the Royal
Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2011.
In January 2009 Jeremy took up the post of Music Director of the Salisbury
Community Choir, a 180-strong non-auditioned choir. In May this year, the
Choir were heavily involved in the dramatically memorable world premiere
of ‘Where Two Worlds Touch’, another work composed especially for the
Festival, by Howard Moody and Helen Chadwick, based on the words and
influence of the 13TM-century mystic Rumi.
~13
~
THE ROTARY CLUB OF GUILDFORD
The Rotary Club of Guildford formed in 1922, when
only six such clubs existed in Great Britain. Today,
there are 1,840 Rotary Clubs in the UK, with over
55,000 members and 1.2 million members in 33,000
Clubs wordwide.
Besides the '1922' Guildford Club, there are two
other Rotary Clubs in the town - the Guildford District
Club, which was founded in 1975 and the Guildford
Chantries Club, founded in 1991.
One of the Club's earliest fundraising projects in the 1920s was its 'Big
Brother' scheme, which was launched to help the town's youngsters, some
of whom had lost their fathers during the First World War. In 1927, the Club
embarked on a project to raise enough money to install radio sets in the
wards of the Royal Surrey County Hospital, so the patients could 'listen in'.
During the Second World War, one of the Club's most memorable
humanitarian events was dealing with the reception of the survivors from
the beaches of Dunkirk, when the special troop trains arrived back at
Guildford Station in June 1940.
With the help of the Rotary Club of Guildford, a committee was formed
under the chairmanship of the Mayor, to explore the possibilities of a
University being established in the town. The Battersea College of
Technology had outgrown its London S|te and |t was deC|ded to move the
college to Guildford and
change
it
into
a
University.
In a later
;
5
R
Y
2
PECems
address,
the
new (& geas>
University's
first
Vice-
Chancellor
Dr.
D.M.
Leggett said "But for the
action of the Rotary Club
of Guildford,
the
new
University of Surrey would
not have materialised.
T AR
§
[g
The Club also played a major fund raising role to establish the Yvonne
Arnaud Theatre, which eventually opened in June 1965.
~
~14
To mark the centenary of the Rotary movement in 2005, Guildford's Rotary
Clubs established their Guildford Historic Trail and presented it to the
Borough of Guildford. The trail is a historic walk that takes visitors on a
circular tour around the town's most famous landmarks.
Other projects initiated by the Rotary Club of Guildford in recent years
include the setting up of the Guildford Eye Project, for the treatment of
cataracts and other eye diseases in Calcutta; the opening of a similar eye
hospital in Mukono, Uganda in 2005; continuing financial support for Rotary
International's worldwide Polio Plus campaign and the Jaipur Limb
Project in India.
Guildford Rotary also supports the local Samson Centre, where the Club
has raised money to buy specialised equipment for the treatment of Multiple
Sclerosis and '"Homestart', the UK family support charity. Funds were also
raised for the local branch of the YMCA with a successful Abseil event last
May and there is always our
annual Christmas Concert
featuring the Vivace Chorus
in aid of the Mayor of
Guildford's Local Distress
This year's chosen
Fund.
charity is Headway Surrey,
people
supports
which
affected by the physical and
emotional problems caused
by brain injury.
Only a month ago, members
Guildford
three
all
from
Rotary Clubs were out in the
High Street collecting for the
Disaster
Philippines
Appeal to help the hundreds
of thousands of victims
affected by Typhoon Haiyan,
when it struck the country on
November 8th - one of the
most intense storms ever to
make landfall anywhere in
the World.
Our Club always welcomes new members and we can be contacted
through our website at www.rotaryclubguildford.co.uk
~
~15
FORTHCOMING CONCERTS BY
THE VIVACE CHORUS
G -LIVE : 7.30pm
VERDI's REQUIEM
The Vivace Chorus, London Philharmonic Choir,
Wimbledon & Twickenham Choral Societies,
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor : Jeremy Backhouse
Saturday, May 18th 2014
The Royal Albert Hall, London : 7.30pm
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Rotary Club of Guildford would like to thank the following people
and organisations for their help in staging this year's
Mayor of Guildford's Christmas Concert
The Members of the Vivace Chorus : Jeremy Backhouse
William Nicholson : Canon Robert Cotton
The Parish of Holy Trinity and St Marys, Guildford
BBC Radio Surrey : Eagle Radio 96.4
The Inner Wheel Club of Guildford
~16
~
Wishingyoua
\%\
Merry
Registered Charity No.1026337
iz
76 C8%
882996
Holy
GU1T
Mayor’s
10.00
Trinity
Church
Christmas
Concert
3RR
ose, A5J1 2113
Tiee
446656
VAT No:
19:00
182960
212530417
Adult
2013