Vivarchive media full view

Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Requiem [2019-05-25]

vaa1-270.pdf

Subject:

Mozart: Requiem; Clarinet Concerto

Classification:

Concert

Sub-classification:

Programme

Sub-folder:

Location:

A1 Programmes

Year:

2019

Date:

May 25th, 2019

Text content:

CLARINET
~ CONCERTO

Michael Collins
fx

|The Brandenburg Sinfonia

MCo ductor- Jeremy Backhouse

Saturday
25'TM" May 2019
7.30 pm
Vi vaCECh orus-org
Registered Charity No. 1026337

Give]
Guildford’s
state-of-the-art
entertainment venue

)

maintaining

- Good Schools Guide

[ndependent Preparatory School
for girls and boys 212 - 13

www.cranmoreprep.co.uk

Vivace

Chorus

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Clarinet Concerto
Soloist: Michael Collins

Requiem
GUSTAV MAHLER

Ave Maria
(after the Adagietto from the 5th Symphony)

Hazel Neighbour

Soprano

Olivia Warburton

Mezzo soprano

Kieran Carrel

Tenor

Niall Anderson

Bass

Francis Pott

Piano

The Brandenburg Sinfonia
Conductor: Jeremy Backhouse

BRAVO!
Sea Symphony - March 2019
"Thank you for a super evening! The music was wonderful and

your rendition of the RVW Sea Symphony left me feeling as
though | had been on the ocean. All three soloists were a joy to
hear and the orchestra was fabulous!”

Concert for Peace - November 2018
"It was one of the most moving events we have attended for
many moons - and so so gratifying to see a packed house with not a dry eye to be seen by the time we reached that
amazing finale: “| was glad” - Vivace truly giving every ounce
of choral energy it could muster.
"What an evening , alternately fun, moving, powerful, tragic
and lots more! | loved it as did we all, congratulations.”

"It was brilliant in concept and perfect in execution! It was a

truly wonderful evening which left me feeling on a real high
and received rave reviews from all my guests”

Printed music for this evening's concert has been obtained from
Surrey Performing Arts Library
We are most grateful to this organisation.

Flash photography, audio and video recording are not permitted
without the prior written consent of the Vivace Chorus. Please

also kindly switch off all mobile phones and alarms on digital
watches. Thank you.
Vivace Chorus

The

Adagietto

from

Mahler's

Fifth

Symphony was performed as a separate
concert item as early as in 1909, when
Henry Wood conducted its UK premier at
a Promenade Concert, twenty-six years

before the whole symphony was heard in
London. Its touching eloquence and
emotional power can be interpreted in the

light of a note that the conductor Willem
Mengelberg, who knew both Mahler and

his wife Alma, wrote in his copy of the
score;

Moritz_Ndhr (Public dom

"This adagietto was a declaration of love to Alma. In place of a letter,
he sent this in manuscript form, not adding a further word. She
understood and wrote to him telling him to come!!! They both told me
this. WM.

Mahler was in the process of writing this symphony when he and
Alma became engaged in November 1901, and they married four
months later. The idea that the Adagietto was, at least in part, a
musical declaration of love, accounts for the delicate intimacy and

sense of intense but troubled yearning (the Mahlers' marriage was

famously tempestuous) that it has conveyed to so many listeners.
Lucchino Visconti's use of it in his film “Death in Venice" is only one
example of the memorable impact that the piece can have even
when detached from its context in the symphony (or in the Mahlers'
relationship).

Adrian Connell's transcription of the Adagietto replaces the limpid
string orchestra of the original with a double chorus of eight voices,
with an optional harp or piano accompaniment. His choice of text is

acute and interesting. The traditional Ave Maria (*Hail, Mary") prayer
of the Roman Catholic Church, important in personal devotion, is
made up of two verses from the Gospel of Luke, with non-biblical
words added. First the Angel Gabriel hails Mary as “full of grace" and
favoured by God, announcing that she will be the mother of the
Vivace Chorus

Saviour. Then Mary's cousin Elizabeth, visited by Mary after the
Annunciation, joyfully tells her that she is “blessed among women”
and that the “fruit of [her] womb" is also blessed. The added prayer

begs Mary to intercede with God for “us sinners, now and at the hour
of our death’,

Mengelberg's account of the Adagietto's origins helps to explain and
justify

Connell's

decision

combine

with

this

prayer.

The

transcription is reminiscent of those highly conventional medieval
poems which take the courtly language and imagery of love,

applied to a relationship with a (usually unattainable) lady, and adapt
it to pay homage to the Virgin - or, working the other way, use the
language of religious awe and veneration for Mary to express
passionate but respectful feelings for a mortal lover. Mahler's
musical praise of Alma's beauty, grace and gentleness, his sense of
her adorable uniqueness, and his longing for her to accept his love,
become the driving force that develops the emotional power of an
ancient religious text.

The prayer is skilfully fitted to the three-part structure of the music:

first the salutation and blessing, then the plea for intercession, and
finally the Amen (preceded by a repetition of the Ave Maria). The
slow pace that Mahler repeatedly specifies, and the transparent
textures and lovely melodies of the opening, establish an entranced,
meditative mood that becomes soulful (seelenvoll, Mahler's marking)
at the words gratia plena (*full of grace"). Bright harmonies then
break out at Benedicta tu ("Blessed art thou"), and the music presses
forward to a glorious climax on the word Jesu, the heart of the
Redemption-narrative.
The middle section begins more gravely and urgently as Sancta
Maria (“Holy Mary") is addressed by the sinner longing for support
and love, and at Ora pro nobis (“Pray for us") a series of chromatic
shifts and soaring melodic phrases (taking the soprano top line up to

a top C) dramatise this yearning, before subsiding as if comforted
and assured of Mary's help. The return of the opening theme brings
the piece to a calm close with great waves of melody, dying away at
last from a dynamic marking of forte to a pianissississimo.

Vivace Chorus

Ave Maria
Ave Maria, gratia plena,

Hail Mary, full of grace,

Dominus tecum.

the Lord is with thee.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus

Blessed art thou among women,

et benedictus fructus ventris

and blessed is the fruit of thy

tui, Jesus

womb, Jesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

pray for us sinners,

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

now and in the hour of our death.

Amen,

Amen.

Saturday gth November
@ G Live

MASS IN BLUE
Will Todd

MISATANGO
Palmeri
¢

Santiago Quartet

WillTodd Ensemble

Vlvace

“If only we had clarinets in Salzburg!!’, the
twenty-one-year-old
Mozart
wrote
enthusiastically
to
his
father
from
Mannheim
in
1778,
excited
by the
opportunities that a first-rate, up-to-date
musical ensemble could offer to an
innovative composer. Years later, only two
months before he died at the age of thirtyfive,
he
finished
orchestrating
the
concerto that he had written for his friend
Anton Stadler, the great clarinet virtuoso.
This was his last completed work in a year
that had also seen the premieres (within a

month) of two operas, Die Zauberfléte and La Clemenza di Tito, and
would end with the Requiem that he left as a magnificent fragment
at his death in December 1791.
The Clarinet Concerto grew out of a long and productive relationship,
personal and professional, between Mozart and Stadler, both of
whom were eager to push forward the boundaries of their art.
Stadler's brilliant technique stimulated Mozart's creativity, and he
responded by challenging his friend to ever greater achievements
as a performer. Stadler played in the first series of Clemenza
performances in Prague (September 1791), and had an important
role: the opera included two large-scale and complex arias for
soprano, each with an important obbligato part for a woodwind
soloist that complemented the voice, weaving elaborate decorative
figures around it to enhance characterisation and the expression of
emotions such as jealousy, regret, tenderness and joy. In one case
the instrument was a basset horn, in the other a basset clarinet, and
Stadler played both.

In the Clarinet Concerto, of course, the ‘character” is the clarinet
itself, and its role is genuinely dramatic, sometimes engaging in
tender dialogue with the orchestra,
sometimes challenging (or
being challenged) to a kind of amiable combat. Mozart exploits the
flexibility and dynamic range that had first attracted him years
before, from the warm resonance of the low ‘chalumeau’ register,
6

Vivace Chorus

through the eloquent ‘clarion”, with its close relationship to the

human voice and (as one commentator says) hints of “a trumpet
heard at a distance”, to the incisive,

gleaming

“altissimo”

The

demanding instrumental writing often takes the performer from high

to low in the range and back again, in rapid runs and leaps, and this
helps create the characteristic and thrilling energy of the piece.
Just as Mozart was constantly pushing forward into new musical

worlds, Stadler was interested in the technical development of the
clarinet. He collaborated with the Viennese court instrument maker,
Theodor Lotz, to design an “enhanced"” version of the “A" clarinet with

four extra half-tones at the bottom of its register - what is now
known as the basset clarinet. Mozart had sketched out the first part
of the concerto for yet another wind instrument, the basset horn, but

he redeveloped it for Stadler's new one, and it was first performed in
Prague on 16 October. As a favour to his friend, Mozart set aside his

work on the Requiem a week or so earlier in order to complete it,
and he orchestrated almost the whole of the concerto’s finale in a
single day, fortified by black coffee and tobacco, while also finding
time to play billiards and sell his horse.

After Mozart's death Stadler took the original manuscript score on
his long

Europe-wide tour, and

it was lost (some members of

Mozart's family thought that Stadler, as unreliable as he was brilliant,

had pawned it). By the time that the concerto was published, at the
very beginning of the nineteenth century, the basset clarinet had

fallen out of favour, so the score was modified to be played on the
standard A" clarinet in the form that is still usually heard.
The instrumentation of the concerto, with no trumpets, oboes or
timpani, allows the soloist to be heard with exhilarating clarity, and it
has been said that this gives the piece a “chamber music" quality,

with soloist and ensemble “bouncing ideas off each other in a lively
discourse”. The opening Allegro, both expansive and energetic, has
Mozart's elusive but instantly recognisable combination of intensely
moving

melody,

rhythmical

high

spirits

suggestion of sadness that is constantly

and

underlying

being transformed into

playfulness and good humour, yet never quite disappears. In the
miraculous

Adagio

the

gently

descending

clarinet

line

has

haunting simplicity, seeming to wander at its ease, relaxed but alert,

above

warmly

Vivace Chorus

pulsing

accompaniment:

this

Mozart

the
7

harbinger of

Romanticism,

looking

forward

into

the

nineteenth

century and the mysterious forest-music of Weber's Der Freischutz.
In the wide-ranging Allegro finale, a sparkling rondo that explores
the clarinet's full range of pitch, colour and dynamic, Mozart gives

the soloist scope for a dazzling display of technique, but never just
for its own sake: a great performance of this wonderful work is a
celebration

of clear,

bright

intelligence

and

profound

emotion,

disciplined artistry and joyfully free expressiveness - a celebration
of humanity itself.

Interval
(20 minutes)
8

Vivace Chorus

W A Mozart : Requiem in D Minor, K626
Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Bass, Chorus, Orchestra

Vivace Chorus dedicates tonight's performance of the
Requiem to the late Michael Taylor for whose generous
sponsorship we are most grateful.

It is 1787, four years before his death will leave the great Requiem
unfinished, and Mozart is writing a mischievous letter to his father
Leopold back in Salzburg, mocking a musician whose performances
once delighted him “and all the world", but who now is playing like

an appallingly inept student. Is it that musical styles and tastes have

changed? No - this man has simply lost his skill: “that is the Truth” At
that exact moment comes news that Leopold is dangerously ill, and
the great composer,

now desperately anxious to hear from

his

father, begins his famous comments on death. It comes in the midst
of life, unpredictable and frightening, as it has just done

- ‘I never
go to bed without the thought that even at my young age [he is

thirty-onel | may not wake up to another day .. Yet" he continues,
‘not one of my acquaintances could say that | am gloomy or
downhearted in company - this is a blessing that | thank my Maker
for every day, and | heartily wish it on every one of my fellow men
and women".

The cheerfulness, resilience and moral seriousness that Mozart
shows in this letter, in combination with his unquenchable
professionalism, underlie the magnificent achievements of his final
year, 1791. Composing at a time of massive political and social
change in Europe, and with young children and his wife Constanze
to support, he needed to adapt swiftly and energetically to shifting
patterns of cultural patronage. He applied successfully in May for
the post of assistant Kapellmeister at St Stephen's in Vienna, with the
assurance of the main post when it became vacant. This would
provide some financial security, and Mozart was therefore keen to
develop his work in liturgical music, which according to his first
biographer he knew that he excelled in. He accepted a political
commission (the coronation opera seria La Clemenza di Tito) and
collaborated with his friend Schikaneder on Die Zauberfléte for a
very different, non-courtly audience in a suburb of the city. A new
beginning, responsive to changing times - yet like Clemenza this was
also a revisiting of a genre he had worked in before, the singspiel or
Vivace Chorus

sung play. It was in this context that Mozart accepted the
commission to write the Requiem that remained unfinished when he
died, probably of rheumatic fever or a streptococcal infection, on 5
December.

Mozart was a forward-looking, self-renewing, practical composer, a
consummate professional who worked on the Requiem almost
literally till his last breath for the good of his family, and a man with
an acute understanding of changing cultural conditions. This runs
counter to the elaborate "Requiem Legend" that developed soon
after he died, with its melodramatic apparatus of the mysterious
‘man in grey" who knocked on the Mozarts' door with a secret
commission from an unnamed patron - perhaps “a messenger of
Death himself" - and whose visit led the doomed composer to
believe that he was writing “his own" requiem - and so on. But it fully
explains Constanze Mozart's hard-headed decision to enlist Mozart's
younger pupils and friends, Joseph Eybler and the much-maligned
Franz Xavier Stussmayr, to complete the fragment so that it could be
delivered (as the work of Mozart alone) to the actual patron, the
eccentric Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, who would
complete the payment (Mozart had already received a “deposit’)
and pass it off as his own work.

The Requiem as Mozart left it was unperformable. He had composed
the Introit (Requiem aeternam) in full score, the voice parts and a
figured bass (from which the instrumental parts could be
constructed) and some instrumental passages for the Kyrie, and the
same for almost all of the six-movement Sequenz and the
Offertorium. When Stssmayr took over from the disheartened Eybler
he had the added responsibility of composing the Sanctus,
Benedictus and Agnus Dei in their entirety, though perhaps with the
help of materials that he had received directly from Mozart, either in
discussion or on the mysterious “scraps of paper’ that were
mentioned at the time but have never been found.

Recent scholars have robustly defended Sussmayr against attacks
on the quality of his completion. Richard Bratby points out that "the
dark-hued
haunting,
the
from
decisions,
major creative
instrumentation, with its basset horns and trombones, to the
decision to conclude the work with the music of the opening, were
Mozart's" and Simon Keefe emphasises that Stussmayr enabled the
Requiem to survive, perhaps to survive at all, and certainly as a
10

Vivace Chorus

performable work. He also knew Mozart, worked with him (though
he may have exaggerated this) and lived in the same cultural milieu.
Keefe's detailed study of the Requiem's reception over the last two
hundred years shows that as tastes shifted and new Mozartian
materials
came to
light,
Sussmayr's work was sometimes
extravagantly praised when it was believed to be Mozart's, and
treated with contempt when it was known to be his. Keefe's final
judgement is that Stssmayr not only has the right to respect and
gratitude, but is, in a serious sense, the co-creator of the Requiem.
The Requiem was, of course, planned and composed for use in a
church service - a mass for the soul of von Walsegg's young wife. It

is firmly tied into the traditions of European sacred music, and there
is

evidence

Nevertheless

that

Mozart

envisaged

concert

piece.

it has always been famous for its dramatic, even

operatic intensity, and as early as 1793 it was performed at a benefit
concert for Constanze and the children. There is no contradiction

here: as a devout Austrian Roman Catholic, and as a Freemason,
Mozart was steeped in the potency of ritual, and only four days

before taking to his bed, a performer to the end, he conducted his
specially-written Little Masonic Cantata at the opening of a new
Temple for his lodge, the New-Crowned Hope. In that last recorded
letter to his father, also a Freemason, he had used images from
Masonic ceremonial to shape his deepest feelings, thanking God for

the “insight” (".. you understand my meaning," he added) that had
enabled him to see death as “the key that unlocks the door to our
true happiness”. It was Richard Wagner who linked this metaphor

(consciously or not) to Mozart's supremacy as a theatrical composer
when he said that the history of German opera began when Prince
Tamino knocked on the door of the Temple of Wisdom in Die
Zauberflote, searching for enlightenment and love, and a lot has

been said about the dramatic significance of locked and unlocked
doors in, say, Le nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni. It could be argued
that all the strands of Mozart's creative life - the superb operas and

liturgical settings, dazzling concert pieces, intimate chamber works,
even

the dozens of compositions for everyday social rituals,
serenades and dances, are gathered up in the ultimate ceremonial

of the Requiem - in its unflinching contemplation of the terrors of
death and judgement, and the profoundly humane consolations that
it offers to Mozart's “fellow men and women".
Vivace Chorus

Requiem in D Minor
INTROITUS
Soprano, Chorus

Requiem

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,

Requiem aeternam dona eis,
Domine;

and may perpetual light shine on

et lux perpetua luceat eis.

them.

Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,

Thou, O God, art praised in Sion,

et tibi reddetur votum in
Jerusalem.

and unto Thee shall the vow be
performed in Jerusalem.

Exaudi orationem meam,

Hear my prayer,

ad te omnis caro veniet

unto Thee shall all flesh come.

Chorus

Kyrie
Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christe eleison.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

SEQUENZ
Chorus

Dies irae
Dies irae, dies illa,

Day of wrath, that day

Solvet saeclum in favilla,

Will dissolve the earth in ashes,

Teste David cum Sibylla.

As David and the Sibyl bear
witness.

Quantus tremor est futurus,

What dread there will be

Quando judex est venturus,

When the judge shall come

Cuncta stricte discussurus.

To judge all things strictly.

Vivace Chorus

Tuba Mirum

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus

Tuba mirum spargens sonum

A trumpet, spreading a

wondrous sound

Per sepulchra regionum,

Through the graves of all lands,

Coget omnes ante thronum.

Will drive mankind before the
throne.

Mors stupebit et natura,

Death and Nature shall be

astonished
Cum resurget creatura,

When all creation rises again

Judicanti responsura.

To answer to the judge.

Liber scriptus proferetur,

A book, written in, will be

brought forth
In quo totum continetur,

In which is contained everything

that is,
Unde mundus judicetur.

Out of which the world shall be

judged.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,

When therefore the judge takes

his seat

Quidquid latet apparebit,

Whatever is hidden will reveal
itself,

Nil inultum remanebit.

Nothing will remain unavenged.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

What then shall| plead in my

anguish?
Quem patronum rogaturus,

What advocate entreat to speak

for me,
Cum vixjustus sit securus?

When even the just are not safe?

Rex tremendae

Chorus

Rex tremendae majestatis,

King of awful majesty,

Qui salvandos salvas gratis,

Who freely savest the redeemed,

Salva me, fons pietatis.

Save me, O fount of goodness.

Vivace Chorus

Recordare

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass

Recordare, Jesu pie,

Remember, blessed Jesus,

Quod sum causa tuae viae,

My salvation caused Thy suffering.

Ne me perdas illa die.

Do not forsake me on that day.

Quaerens me sedisti lassus;

Faint and weary Thou hast sought me

Redemisti crucem passus;

Redeemed me, suffering death on
the cross.

Tantus labor non sit cassus.

Let no such toil be in vain.

Juste judex ultionis,

Just and avenging judge,

Donum fac remissionis

Grant remission

Ante diem rationis.

Before the day of reckoning.

Ingemisco tanquam reus:

| lament for | am guilty

Culpa rubet vultus meus:

And | blush for my wrongdoing.

Supplicanti parce, Deus.

Spare a suppliant, O God.

Qui Mariam absolvisti,

Thou who didst absolve Mary

Et latronem exaudisti,

And hearken to the thief,

Mihi quoque spem dedisti.

To me also hast given hope.

Preces meae non sunt dignae,

My prayers are not worthy,

Sed tu, bonus, fac benigne,

But Thou, O good one, in Thy mercy

Ne perenni cremer igne.

Do not send me to everlasting fire.

Inter oves locum praesta,

Place me among Thy sheep

Et ab haedis me sequestra,

And separate me from the goats,

Statuens in parte dextra.

Setting me on Thy right hand

Confutatis

Chorus

Confutatis maledictis

When the cursed are all banished

Flammis acribus addictis,

And given over to the bitter flames,

Voca me cum benedictis.

Summon me among the blessed.

Oro supplex et acclinis,

| pray in supplication on my knees.

Cor contritum quasi cinis,

My heart contrite as the dust,

Gere curam mei finis.

Grant me grace at my departing.
Vivace Chorus

Lacrimosa

Chorus

Lacrimosa dies illa,

That day of tears and mourning,

Qua resurget ex favilla

When from the ashes shall arise

Judicandus homo reus.

Guilty man to be judged.

Huic ergo parce, Deus,

Then, Lord, pity this Thy servant,

Pie Jesu Domine,

Blessed Lord Jesus,

Dona eis requiem!

Grant them peace.

Amen!

Amen.

OFFERTORIUM

Domine Jesu

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus

Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,

O Lord, Jesus Christ, King of glory,

libera animas omnium fidelium

deliver the souls of all the faithful

defunctorum de poenis inferni et

departed from the pains of hell

de profundo lacu.

and from the bottomless pit.

Libera eas de ore leonis,

Deliver them from the mouth of

the lion,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne

that they may not be swallowed

cadant in obscurum:;

up by hell and perish in its

darkness;
sed signifer sanctus Michael

but let holy Michael Thy standard

repraesentet eas in lucem

-bearer lead them into the holy

sanctam.

light.

Quam olim Abrahae promisisti

As once Thou didst promise

et semini eius.

to Abraham and his seed.

SANCTUS

Sanctus

Chorus

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus,

Holy, holy, holy,

Dominus Deus sabaoth.

Lord God of Hosts.

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Heaven and earth are full of Thy

glory.
Osanna in excelsis
Vivace Chorus

Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus

Benedictus qui venit in nomine

Blessed is he that cometh in the

Domini.

name of the Lord.

Osanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest

AGNUS DEI
Agnus Dei

Chorus

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata

Lamb of God, who takest away

mundl,

the sins of the world,

dona eis requiem.

grant them rest.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata

Lamb of God, who takest away

mundi,

the sins of the world,

dona eis requiem sempiternam.

grant them everlasting rest.

COMMUNIO
Lux aeterna
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,

Soprano, Chorus
Let eternal rest shine upon them,

Lord,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,

with your saints for ever, for Thou

quia pius es.

art holy.

Requiem aeternam dona eis,

Grant them eternal rest, Lord

Domine,

et lux perpetua luceat eis.

and let perpetual light shine
upon them.

All programme notes by Jon Long

Vivace Chorus

John Frederick Lewis

Facing Fame
9 July 3 November 2019

Book online
wattsgallery.org.uk
B
Y

é
R
1

—7

01483 302000

Sy,

guildford@rhw.co.uk

www.rhw.co.uk

P" Wills &
%

nhemance
Quality

Lea(cel
Legal Practice Qu:my Mark

Law Society
A

<V
&

W 500,

&5,

3W:onveyancmg
’55%

Quality

Guildford,

GU3 1DQ

£ | Axiscoinci

advice

Guildford

free

difficulty

advice

service

started

the

anyone

day

Britain

declared war on Germany in 1939. Back

then the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)

helped people with wartime rationing
queries, blackout regulation and debt

problems. Guildford was amongst the first towns to offer this service.
The organisation has not stood still, and today advises people on a
wide range of issues including the complexities of changes to the
benefits system, employment, housing issues, and debt etc. We
provide a vital front-line service for those within our community who
are in greatest need or least able to cope.
Over the past 80 years we've helped people find their way forward whoever they are, and whatever their problem. Today, Citizens
Advice - Guildford do this by offering confidential advice online, over
the phone, and in person, for free.

As we approach our 8oth anniversary in September 2019 we are
embarking on a major fund-raising effort. Demand for our services is
increasing locally but sadly our traditional funding
streams are much reduced and we struggle
or
accordingly with our shortfall, hence this appeal for
i 4
years

support.

We are most grateful to Vivace Chorus for kindly
allowing us to hold a leaving collection and to you,
their audience, for all generous donations received. These will be
put to good use to directly support our core service with a priority
being the expansion of our volunteer pool of advisers and assessors
and the costs of their training.
.....................................................................................................................

At the end of tonight's performance, there will be a leaving
collection on behalf of Citizens Advice, Guildford branch. We

would like to thank you for any donation, no matter how smaill,
to this invaluable service.

Charity Registration Number: 1061067
15/21 Haydon Place, Guildford, GU1 4LL

Vivace Chorus

Michael Collins - Clarinet
Michael Collins is one of the most
complete musicians of his generation.
With a continuing, distinguished career
as a soloist, he has in recent years also

become

highly

regarded

conductor.

Recent

guest

and

play-directing

included

as
a
conducting

highlights

engagements

have

with

the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra,
Symphony

Orchestra

and

the

BBC

Zurich

Chamber Orchestra. From 2010 - 2018
he was the Principal Conductor of the

City of London Sinfonia.

Recent highlights include a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra as

conductor;

performances worldwide with orchestras including
Minnesota Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Rheinische
Philharmonie, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra

and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, and tours in South Africa, Australia

(with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Japan and Mexico (with
the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional). This year Michael will make his
conducting debut with the English Chamber Orchestra and perform

with the London Mozart Players. In July 2018 he performed at the
BBC Young Musician 40th Anniversary BBC Prom. He also hosted a
series of ‘Michael Collins and Friends' concerts at LSO St Luke's,
recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3, featuring the Heath Quartet,
Leonard Elschenbroich, Lawrence Power and Michael McHale.

Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of
the clarinet for many years. He has given premiéres of works such as
John Adams' Gnarly Buttons, Elliott Carter's Clarinet Concerto - for
which he won a Gramophone award for his recording on Deutsche
Grammophon - and Brett Dean's Ariel's Music and Turnage's Riffs

and Refrains, which was commissioned

by the Hallé Orchestra.
Collins has gone on to perform Turnage's work with the Residentie

Orkest, Royal Flanders and Helsinki Philharmonics, as well as the
London Philharmonic Orchestra. Collins has received the Royal

Philharmonic Society's Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2007 in
Vivace Chorus

recognition of his pivotal role in premiering repertoire by some of
today's most highly regarded composers.

In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs regularly
with the Borodin, Heath and Belcea quartets, Andras Schiff, Martha
Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Lars Vogt, Joshua Bell

and Steven lIsserlis. His ensemble, London Winds, celebrates its
thirtieth anniversary in 2018 and the group maintains a busy diary
with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh

Festival, Edinburgh Festival, City of London Festival, Cheltenham
International Festival and Bath Mozartfest. During the 2019-20
season he will be an Artist in Residence at the Wigmore Hall which
will include concerts with Stephen Hough, the Vienna Piano Trio,
Leonard Elschenbroich and Michael McHale.
Michael Collins records for Chandos, and in his prolific recording
career he has covered an extraordinarily wide range of solo
repertoire, which also includes releases on Deutsche Grammophon,
Decca, EMI and Sony. He is one of the world's most recorded
clarinettists, having made no fewer than nineteen discs for Chandos
alone. Recent releases include a disc of Crusell Clarinet Concertos
with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra; a disc of British Clarinet
Concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which features Collins
as soloist and conductor, and two discs with pianist Michael McHale:
the first of Brahms and Reinicke Clarinet Sonatas and the second of
Reger Clarinet Sonatas. In 2017 he was awarded a Grammy for his
disc ‘Shakespeare Songs' with lan Bostridge and Antonio Pappano
(‘Best Classical Solo Vocal Album’). This season he will record a
Richard Strauss disc with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, as
conductor and soloist.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2015, Michael Collins was
awarded an MBE for his services to music. He plays on Yamaha
clarinets.

VivaceChorus

Hazel Neighbour - Soprano
British

soprano

currently

Hazel

the

Neighbour

Academy

Royal

Music

Opera

course

Nuccia

Focile

and

studying

Ingrid

with

Surgenor,

generously supported by the Maria
Callas Award and the Josephine Baker
Trust. She completed her Master of

Performance with distinction at the
Royal College of Music where she was a

Cuthbert Smith Scholar supported by a

Helen

Marjorie

Tonks

Before

studying

singing,

Scholarship.

Hazel read
Chemistry at Imperial College London.
At the Royal Academy of Music, Hazel has performed the roles of
Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen (Janacek), Cupid in Semele (Handel)

and Brigitta in /olanta (Tchaikovsky). She has also performed the
Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier - Strauss) and the Governess (Turn of

the Screw - Britten) in opera scenes. At the Royal College of Music,
she performed the roles of Mimi (La bohéme - Puccini) and Marenka

(The
Bartered
Bride
Smetana)
in
opera
scenes
and
Cock/Cricket/Franzl in The Cunning Little Vixen by Janacek. Other
operatic roles she has performed include Gretel, Polly Peachum,
Dorabella and Papagena as well as Rosalinde, Konstanze and the
Countess in opera scenes.

Hazel also specialises in contemporary opera. She covered the role
of the Bride in British Youth Opera's production of The Vanishing
Bridegroom by Judith Weir in the Peacock Theatre and played the

lead soprano role in The Butt, an opera by Susie Self adapted from

the

book

Will

Self,

the

contemporary

music

festival

Musiktheatertage in Vienna.

Highlights of Hazel's concert experience include A Sea Symphony by
Vaughan Williams with Vivace Chorus and Brandenburg Sinfonia at

Dorking Halls, Berg's Sieben friihe Lieder with Cambridge Sinfionetta

and

Mozart's

Vesperae

solemnes

confessore

West

Road

Concert Hall in Cambridge.

Vivace Chorus

Olivia Warburton - Mezzo soprano
Mezzo-soprano
studies

the

Olivia
opera

Warburton

course

Royal Academy of Music with

the

Caitlin

Hulcup, Yvonne Howard and Jonathan
Papp. She is grateful for the support of
the Norman Ayrton Scholarship and the
Charlotte Fraser Foundation.

She was a recent prizewinner in the 1st

International

Haydn

Competition

numerous

prizes

Austria
for

Singing
and

has

won

outstanding

achievement at the Academy.

Recent operatic roles include the title role in Ravel's L'enfant et les
sortileges and Ino in Handel's Semele for Royal Academy Opera, the

title role in Teseo for the London Handel Festival and Dido in Dido
and Aeneas at both the RAM and The Grange Festival.

This season's highlights include the role of Ernando in Venceslao for

the London and Halle Handel Festivals and Fox in Janacek's The
Cunning Little Vixen with RAQ.

A keen recitalist, Olivia has made solo debuts at Wigmore Hall, the
Aldeburgh Festival and the Oxford Lieder Festival. She is a Britten
Pears Young Artist, a Samling Artist, a member of the RAM's Song
Circle, a soloist for the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation
Bach Cantata Series and a graduate of both the Hochschule fur

Musik

und

Tanz,

Koln

(Erasmus),

and

the

Internationale

Sommerakademie at the Mozarteum, Salzburg.

Vivace Chorus

Kieran Carrel - Tenor
Kieran Carrel (born 1996) studied in
Cologne, Germany with the renowned
German
tenor Christoph
Prégardien

before

continuing
his studies with
distinguished Scottish tenor Neil Mackie
at the Royal Academy of Music.
He frequently appears as a soloist in
oratorio

Kieran
stage

and
recital across
Europe.
has appeared on the operatic
in roles such as Kilian in Carl

Maria von Weber's Der Freischlitz and
Sakristan in Siegfried Wagner's An allem

ist Hutchen Schuld under Lionel Friend,
which was recently released on DVD with Naxos.
Further roles include Flute in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's
and Contino Belfiore in Ryedale Festival's production of

Dream

Mozart's

La finta giardiniera with

the

Enlightenment.

Orchestra

of the Age

December 2016 Kieran had his debut at Wigmore Hall,
accompanied by Graham Johnson. He has since returned to the Hall.
As

part of the Schubert Weekend with Thomas Hampson and
Wolfgang Rieger, he has recently sung at the newly opened Pierre-

Boulez-Saal in Berlin.

Kieran is recipient of the Royal Academy's Douglas Samuel & Birdie

Matthews

Award and regularly cast as a soloist in the Royal
Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantatas series, where
he has sung under the baton of Philippe Herreweghe. Kieran is
generously supported by the ABRSM.

Vivace Chorus

Niall Anderson - Baritone
Originally from Fife, Niall Anderson now

studies at the Royal Academy of Music
under

the

tutelage

Hargreaves and Jonathan
include

Aeneas

(Dido

Glenville

Papp.
and

Roles

Aeneaqs),

Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Escamillo (La
Tragedie de Carmen) Somnus (Semele),

and

Marcello

(La bohéme)

part of

Royal Academy Opera Scenes. Niall is a
member of Royal Academy Opera.
Niall

has

performed

globally

most

notably singing the role of Christus in
-

Bach's St Johannes Passion in \Wurselen,

Germany. On the oratorio stage, Niall has sung Mozart's and Faure's
Requiem amongst many others in the genre. Niall has experience
performing in venues such as St Andrew's Cathedral, Cowdray Hall,
St John's, Smith Square and Haddo House. Niall is also a member of
the prestigious Royal Academy of Music Song Circle where he
performed in their annual Schubertiade event this year.

A keen performer of new music, Niall sang the baritone solo in the
Welsh premier of Paul Mealor's Symphony No.1, 'Passiontide’. Recent
engagements include Haydn's Nelson Mass, Mozart's Requiem,
Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle and the role of Escamillo in RAO's
production of La Tragedie de Carmen. Niall made his Wigmore Hall
debut in November in a recital with Julian Prégardien and Christoph
Schnakertz. Niall also featured as a soloist in the Royal Academy of
Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series in 2018 led by lain
Ledingham.

Upon graduating from the University of Aberdeen in 2016, Niall was
awarded the Carlaw Music Prize for his services to the music
department and was also a finalist in the Ogston Music Prize in 2015

and 2016. In spring 2017, Niall was very highly commended in the
Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize at the Royal Academy of Music.

Vivace Chorus is grateful to The Josephine Baker Trust
for the sponsorship of tonight's soloists.
24

Vivace Chorus

Jeremy Backhouse
Jeremy Backhouse is one of Britain's
leading choral conductors. He began his
musical career in Canterbury Cathedral
where he was Senior Chorister.
Jeremy has been the sole conductor of
the internationally-renowned chamber
choir, Vasari Singers, since its inception in
1980. Since winning the prestigious Choir
of the Year competition in 1988, the
Vasari Singers has performed regularly at
major concert venues and cathedrals
throughout the UK and abroad. Jeremy
and
the
Vasari
Singers
broadcast
frequently on Classic FM and BBC Radio
3 and have a discography of over 25 CDs on EMI, Guild, Signum and
Naxos. Their recordings have been nominated for a Gramophone
award, received two Gramophone Editor's Choice awards, the top

recommendation on Radio 3's 'Building A Library' and two recent
CDs both achieved Top Ten status in the Specialist Classical Charts,
He is totally committed to the performance of contemporary music
and, with Vasari, he has commissioned over 25 new works.

In January 1995 Jeremy was appointed Music Director of the Vivace
Chorus. Alongside the standard classical works, Jeremy has
conducted the Vivace Chorus in some ambitious programmes
including Howells' Hymnus Paradisi, Szymanowski's Stabat Mater,
Mahler's ‘Resurrection' Symphony, Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky and
Ivan the Terrible, then Mahler's ‘Symphony of a Thousand' and Verdi's
Requiem in the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra.

In January 2009 Jeremy became the Music Director of the Salisbury
Community Choir. In 2013 the choir celebrated its 21st Anniversary
with a concert in Salisbury Cathedral, premiering a specially-

commissioned work by Will Todd, The City Garden, which they
toured to Lincoln (2014) and Guildford (2015) cathedrals. A new work
from Alexander L'Estrange was premiered in Winchester Cathedral
in November 2018.
Jeremy has also worked with a number of the country's leading
choirs, including the BBC Singers, the London Symphony Chorus,

the Philharmonia Chorus, and the Brighton Festival Chorus.
Vivace Chorus

The Brandenburg Sinfonia is one of the most dynamlcally versatile

musical organisations in the country, renowned for its special quality
of sound and poised vivacity in performance. The orchestra
performs regularly in most major venues across the country, and in
London at the Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Fairfield Halls and St John's, Smith Square. The Brandenburg
Sinfonia is also in great demand abroad and has visited France, USA,
Bermuda, the Channel Islands, Barbados, Russia, Germany, Japan
and Hong Kong. In 1999 the orchestra established a major concert
series at both St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Crystal Palace Bowl.
Violin 1

Bassett Horn

Mihkel Kerem

Sarah Watts

Elizabeth van Ments

Rosemary Taylor

Alicja Smietana

Connie del Veccio

Barbara Dziewicka

Violin 2
Eleanor Parry-Dickinson
Ciaran McCabe

Julian Trafford
Alice Hall

Viola

Bassoon
Angharad Thomas
Finan Jones

Horn
Anna Douglass
David Bentley

Trumpet
Sam Kinrade

Anna Cooper

Trombone

Cressida Wislocki

Susan White

Toby Deller
Lowri Thomas

Timpani
Tristan Fry

Cello
Ben Rogerson

Julia Morneweg

Bass
Andrew Davis
Vivace Chorus

About Vivace Chorus
Jeremy Backhouse

Music Director

Francis Pott

Accompanist

James Garrow

Chairman

The choir has come a long way since it began in 1946 as the
Guildford Philharmonic Choir and now has an enviable reputation for
performing

first-class concerts across a wide

range of musical

repertoire. Particular successes include a sell-out performance in

May 2011 of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, the 'Symphony of a Thousand|,
at

the

Royal

Albert

Hall,

highly

acclaimed

performance

November 2012 of Britten's War Requiem and another Royal Albert

Hall success in May 2014 when we performed the Verdi Requiem. In
2017

celebrated

our

70th

birthday

with

the

Philharmonia

Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall.
Since 1995, Vivace has thrived under the exceptional leadership of
this evening's conductor, Jeremy Backhouse. Jeremy's passion for
choral works and his sheer enthusiasm for music-making are
evident at every rehearsal and performance. He is supported by
Francis Pott, who is not just a very fine rehearsal accompanist, but is
also an academic and composer of international repute and an
accomplished concert pianist.
Vivace Chorus

In addition to our own concerts in

Guildford and London, we also sing
in

various

with

our

charity

concerts

and,

regular

orchestra,

the

Brandenburg Sinfonia, take part in
the
each

Brandenburg
year

Choral

Fields. We also

Festival

Martin-in-the-

like to take our

music-making overseas and have
toured to

France,

Italy,

Germany,

Austria and the Baltic States, with a trip to Northern Spain planned
for 2020.
We're a friendly and sociable choir that enjoys singing traditional
choral classics alongside the challenge of contemporary and newlycommissioned

music.

are

always

happy

welcome

new

members, so if you would like to try us out, do come along to any of
our regular rehearsals on Monday evenings at 715 in the Millmead
Centre, Millmead, Guildford.
Just

contact

our

membership

secretary

Jane

Brooks

membership@vivacechorus.org and for more information, visit our

website, vivacechorus.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter @VivaceChorus.

SING WITH THEBEST

It's official: singing

= Makes you feel happier
» Reduces stress

= Improves memory
= Strengthens the lungs and

iImmune system

But most of all, it's just great fun!
Apart

from

singing

local

venues, we also tour abroad and

have

events,

full

calendar

including

social

walks

and

parties.
If you're tempted to join us, just
drop an email to our membership
secretary,

Jane

Brooks

membership@vivacechorus.org.

43 VIVACE CHORUS and GUILDFORD

GUILDFORD

COMMUNITY LOTTERY

COMMUNITY LOTTERY :

Guildford Borough Council has recently set up the Guildford :
Community Lottery to help provide much-needed funding for :

. local community projects.
:

You can buy lottery tickets online for a minimum of £1 per week,
of which 50p goes directly to your chosen cause, e.g. Vivace

Chorus. Each ticket gives you a 1 in 50 chance of winning a prize,

Wwith a top prize of £25,000 for matching 6 numbers.

If you would like to support Vivace Chorus and be in with the
chance of winning a cash prize at the same time, please visit the

Guildford Community Lottery website:

www.guildfordlottery.org/support/vivace-chorus
Vivace Chorus

Vivace Chorus Singers
FIRST SOPRANO

Hilary Trigg

Sheena Ewen

Stephen Linton

Sel Adamu

Christine Wilks

Valerie Garrow

Charles Martin

Amelia Atkinson

Fiona Wimblett

Jo Glover

Peter Norman

Jane Barnes

Frances Worpe

Liz Hampshire

Jon Scott

Joanna Bolam

FIRST ALTO

Mary King

FIRST BASS

Mary Broughton

Jackie Bearman

Christine Lavender

Paul Barnes

Rebecca Kerby

Jane Brooks

Penny Macfarlane

Phil Beastall
David Brassington

Helen Beevers

Pauline Higgins

Fran MacKay

Amanda Burn

Lois McCabe

Suzie Maine

Kate Emerson

Catherine Middleton Richard Broughton

Sue Norton

Valentina Faedi

Val Morcom

Mike Dudley

Robin Onslow

Elaine Harris

Pamela Murrell

Brian John

Gillian Rix

Sheila Hodson

Sonja Nagle

Jon Long

Sarah Smithies

Liz Martin

Jacqueline Norman

Malcolm Munt

Joan Thomas

Penny McLaren

Sheila Rowell

Chris Newbery

Hilary Vaill

Christine Medlow

Prue Smith

Peter Pearce

Anna Veronese

Rosalind Milton

Pamela Usher

Chris Peters

Linda Ross

Anne Whitley

Robin Privett

SECOND SOPRANO

Catherine Shacklady

June Windle

Andrew Skinner

Jacqueline Alderton

Carol Sheppard

Elisabeth Yates

Philip Stanford

Anna Arthur

Marjory Stewart

Suzanne Cahalane
Philippa Curtis
Isobel Humphreys
Mo Kfouri
Krystyna Marsden
Isabel Mealor
Sonia Morris
Michelle Mumford
Alex Nash
Sarah Palmer

Jo Stokes
Julia Stubbs
Sue Thomas
Maggie Woolcock

Gill Perkins

Sylvia Chantler

SECOND ALTO
Valerie Adam
Geraldine Allen
Evelyn Beastall
Diana Butcher

Kate Peters
Mary Clayton
Paula Sutton
Liz Curry-Hyde
Valerie Thompson Andrea Dombrowe
30

Kieron Walsh

FRtET TENGE
Bob Bromien
SECOND BASS
SHAER S1D00MS
Peter Andrews
i et
Norman Carpenter
Miches! Krz/zanis James Garrow
HigicManging
Stuart Gooch
HarparaMclonaid Nick Gough
sy kil
Neil Martin
Chns Roirsan
Richard Wood
ke thed
SECOND.TENWVE
Tonyraen
EPnLDR
GeoffJohns

.............................................................................................................................oA

L S

Vivace Chorus Patrons
The Vivace Chorus is extremely grateful to all patrons for their support.
Honorary Life Patrons
Mr John Britten

Dr John Trigg MBE

Life Patrons
Mrs Joy Hunter MBE

John and Jean Leston

Platinum Patrons
Alan & Elizabeth Batterbury

Roger Muray

Mr & Mrs Peter B P Bevan

Peter Norman

Robin & Jill Broadley

John Parry

Roger & Sharon Brockway

Robin & Penny Privett

Richard & Mary Broughton

Gillian Rix

Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson CBE

Geoffrey Johns & Sheila Rowell

Jean & Norman Carpenter

Jonathan Scott

Andrea & Gunter Dombrowe

Catherine & Brian Shacklady

Rosemary & Michael Dudley

Prue & Derek Smith

Robert Glossop MBE

Dennis Stewart

Susan & Cecil Hinton

Idris & Joan Thomas

Michael & Anna Jeffery

Pam Usher

Dr Stephen Linton

Anthony J T Williams

John McLean OBE & Janet McLean

Bill & June Windle

Ron & Christine Medlow

Maggie Woolcock

Lionel & Mary Moon

BECOME A VIVACE PATRON
If you have enjoyed this concert, why not become one of our patrons? \We
have a loyal band of followers whose regular presence at our concerts is
greatly appreciated. With the valued help of our patrons, we are able to

perform a wide range of exciting music, with world-class, professional
musicians in venues such as Guildford Cathedral, G Live, the Royal Albert
Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. For an annual donation, patrons can have
unlimited tickets at a 10% discount. If you are interested, please contact
Mary Moon on 01372 468431 or email: patrons@vivacechorus.org.
Vivace Chorus

Vivace Chorus dates for your diary
In the Mood for Summer
Saturday 6th July 7.00 pm

Holy Trinity Church, Guildford

Join us at the beautiful Holy Trinity Church on Guildford's historic
High Street for a light summer concert, full of easy-listening
favourites. Our programme includes Gershwin, Cole Porter, George
Shearing and John Rutter - the perfect soundtrack to a summer
evening.

Todd Mass in Blue and Palmeri Misa Tango
Saturday gth November 7.30 pm

G Live, Guildford

There's plenty to get your hips swaying in our sultry Latin-American
and jazz concert at G Live this November. We'll be singing Mass in
Blue by acclaimed international composer and Guildford resident,
Will Todd. This has fast become one of the most popular modern
choral works in the world, and we're delighted to be joined by LatinAmerican music specialists, the Santiago Quartet, international
bandoneon player Julian Rowlands and Tango bass player, Tom
Mason for this, and our other programmed work, Misatango by
Palmeri. And if that's not exciting enough, there will be live Tango
dancing from duo Richard Manuel and Paula Duarte, who performed
in Guildford to huge acclaim in the 2018 Spring Music Festival.

The Mayor of Guildford's Carol Concert
Sunday 15th December 7.00 pm

Holy Trinity Church, Guildford

One of the highlights of the Christmas season in Guildford is the
Mayor of Guildford's annual Carol Concert, in support of the Mayor's
selected charity. In the beautiful setting of a candlelit Holy Trinity
Church, Vivace Chorus's imaginative mix of favourite carols and
beautiful Christmas music, as well as delicious mince pies and
mulled wine will definitely help to put you in the Christmas spirit.

Printed by IMPRINT COLOUR LTD

Pegasus Court, North Lane, Aldershot GU12 4QP. Tel: 01252 330683
Vivace Chorus is a Registered Charity No. 1026337

Vivace Chorus

the most
of your
summer in
Guildford