|
Guildford Philharmonic Choir
Editor: Margaret Dentskevich
November 2000
Issue No. 5
— REVIEWS OF THE LAST TWO CONCERTS
Guildford Cathedral, 28th November, 2000.
Surrey Advertiser, 3" November, 2000
“Magnificent Mozart
One could speculate endlessly over why Mozart never finished the great C Minor Mass........ But what
remains is indeed magnificent. Its performance by the Guildford Philharmonic Choir was the climax of a
memorable evening at the Cathedral, last Saturday.
The quality of the choir was apparent from the outset, in a suitably dramatic performance of Haydn's
motet Insanae et vanae curae which alternates between the stormy and the soothing...............
Under Jeremy Backhouse, the choir sang with a conviction that would have warmed the composer’s heart. In
the complex runs of the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue they were well drilled and flexible in tone and dynamic.
The Qui Tollis contains a wonderful passage of sinking, chromatic harmonies where the sudden hushing of
the tones sounded chillingly effective........ The Brandenburg Sinfonia played superbly”
Shelagh
Godwin
Civic Hall Concert : 10" June, 2000
Surrey Advertiser, 16" June, 2000
‘A real feast of English music’
William Walton’s extravagant choral masterpiece, Belshazzar’s Feast
is a spacious piece of music and seemed an unlikely choice for our
modest Guildford Civic. Yet Saturday’s performance by the Guildford
Philharmonic Choir and the Vasari Singers worked surprisingly well.
'
Jeremy with composer, David Fanshawe
With the Vasari singers giving moral and musical support to the Guildford Philharmonic Choir, the resulting
sound was clear, confident and well-directed.
There was an intimacy to the performance that added rather than subtracted to the work’s excitement, the audience being drawn in by the charismatic baritone narrator Robert Rice.
The well balanced programme was of works by 20" century English composers. Of these, David Fanshawe
is still living and was in the hall to receive the warm applause for his composition Fanfare to the Planet Earth
and Millennium March.
Linda Mowat
1
NMENA o
A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAIRMAN
Fixing the date!
Why do we have the Cathedral or the Civic? These
are the only two venues in Guildford that are big
enough for our large choir and an orchestra; we also
need to have a sufficient seating capacity to generate
enough income to cover our costs. For the Mozart
concert we needed to sell about 750 tickets to break
,
even
Costs at the Civic are much higher than at the Cathedral, for about the same seating capacity. The Cathedral also seems to be better at attracting the type of
audience to which our concerts appeal.
We've just had our Mozart concert in the Cathedral
and some members had friends who couldn’t come
because it was half term. This is sometimes a good
excuse for potential guests who didn’t want to come in
any case, but we do occasionally have less than ideal
days for our performances.
There are annual meetings about booking the Cathedral to which we send a representative. The meetings
discuss the following year’s dates, so in practise we
are booking dates two years in advance. The present
Dean only allows the Cathedral to be used for concerts once a month and there are many organisations
that are interested: Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra,
Guildford Choral, the University, Woking Choral Society, Surrey Festival Choir etc. The result is that we
usually have to take the only dates that are offered to
us: half term, or too soon in our season, or too late!
Next time you wonder why a concert is at the Civic on
Cup Final night perhaps this article will give some
background to the difficulties of fixing a date!
John Trigg
Schedule of Concerts 2000 - 2002
?
?
17" December, 2000 - Guildford Civic:
10TM March, 2001 - Guildford Civic:
12" May, 2001
- Guildford Cathedral:
Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Carol Concert
?
Ein Deutsches Requiem by Brahms.
?
Mendelssohn: Overture “The Hebrides” (Fingal's Cave)
Rachmaninov: Second Piano Concerto (Soloist: Jeremy Filsell)
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony.
3 November, 2001 - Guildford Cathedral:
16" December, 2001 - Guildford Civic:
16TM April, 2002 - Guildford Cathedral:
25" May 2002 - Guildford Cathedral:
Handel: The Messiah
The Mayor of Guildford’s Christmas Concert
Projected to celebrate the 50TM Anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.
(Projected - Mahler: Symphony No. 8)
PUBLICITY AND SELLING CONCERT TICKETS
It needn’t be a chore. But it is important, not only for obvious financial reasons but also because
our reputation is, | believe, enhanced when we sing to a full house.
| have found that the earlier one starts to interest people in a concert the better the chance of
making ticket sales. Of course everybody has their own favourite way of approaching this task but
here are a few ideas that | find work for me and might help somebody. = No guarantees though!
©Q0
o
Do make use of the advance publicity material
Tell your friends and work colleagues in good time
Listen out for anyone who expresses the slightest interest in music
Offer to get the tickets for them
Invite them back for coffee after the concert
Tell them about the next one!
| have started to maintain a list of friends who | know are interested in music so that | can reasonably expect to
sell to a proportion of them every time.
In the Guildford area there is always a wide choice of concert music available and | feel that most of the audiences are made up from people who have been asked to come along rather than people who have chosen a
concert from advertisements alone.
_
| have received some useful ideas from choir members about promoting our concerts for which many thanks.
Please let me know of any idea you may have that will help sell more tickets.
Alan Batterbury
S
SR
Composer in focus - Johannes Brahms (1833 -1897)
Brahms was born in Hamburg in May 1833,
the son of an orchestral double-bass player. His skill
as a pianist developed early and by the time he was
10 years old, he was being taught by the distinguished
teacher Eduard Marxsen, but by the time he was 14
he was obliged to play in dance halls and taverns to
augment the family income. At 20 he teamed up with
Eduard Remenyi, a Hungarian violinist.
Together they wandered about Europe giving
concerts. Remenyi introduced Brahms to Joseph
Jochim, one of the leading violinists of the day, who
recognised the young man’s genius and introduced
From 1857-60 Brahms held an appointment at
the little court of Detmold, south-west of Hanover.
This only occupied part of the year.
He conducted and trained a ladies choir in
Hamburg. In 1862 he moved to Vienna. There he settled down to a more or less regular life, conducting,
playing and composing. His music was becoming better known. He met Wagner and was not too proud to
help copy out the orchestral scores of Die Meistersinger for a Viennese performance of the opera.
He was able to make a comfortable living from his musical activities.
him to some influential people of the music world. One
of these was Franz Liszt, but this came to nothing as
the two men did not like each other from the start.
Brahms had many friends, but he also made
many enemies, because of his quick temper and
sharp tongue. Though he had a number of minor flirtations in his life, he never married.
In 1865 Brahms was heartbroken by the death of his
mother and this inspired him to complete Ein
Deutsches Requiem, first heard on Good Friday, 10"
April, 1868.
A caricature of Brahms. The hedgehog
alludes to the ‘Red Hedgehog’ restaurant , where Brahms often ate, while
also hinting at his prickly nature.
A portrait of Brahms at the age of
Soon afterwards, in 1853, he was befriended
58 years
by the composer and critic, Robert Schumann and his
wife Clara, who were thrilled by his musical genius
and wanted to help develop his talents. Sadly, the | Qyer the years Brahms and his music gained recogni-
next year Robert Schumann had a mental breakdown, | tion and acclaim. His golden period was during his
from which he never recovered.
Brahms was a great
40s and early 50s, when he wrote some of his most
help to Clara throughout this painful time and they re-
important orchestr,al works.
mained friends for life.
In 1897 he died from cancer.
(U8
Fund—raising
/ 1Plant Sale - 5th June, 2000
/1A good selection of plants and seedlings were brought in by members to sell for Choir funds.
Hilary would like to thank people for their support. A total of £562.50 was raised.
The 100 Club Results
The winner of the £100 June Prize was Graham Barwick
[Month
£20
£15
£10
July
August
98 Rachel Edmundson
39 Robin Oslow
|8 Kathy Stickland
38 Max New
83 John Parry
62 Marion Arbuckle
September
[October
93 Michael Dawe
95 Michael Dawe
46 Gillian Rix
66 Christine Wilks
83 John Parry
90 Maggie van Koetsveld
[November
60 Colin Jameson
83 John Parry
84 Robin Onslow
Car— boot - 14th October, 2000
Alec with a tough customer
It was one of those days! You didn’t know whether it
was going to rain, but it looked as if it might. We managed to pitch our stall in the same successful spot as
last time (near the toilets and café !!!)
The Guildford Philharmonic Choir's well known banner
was prominently displayed. We had a steady stream
of customers and raised £310.
0222212
This time we had reinforcements and our thanks go to
Alec Leggatt, Mary Clayton, Mary Broughton and
Lorna Gray.
Some items have been placed in shops where they
will get a better price than at the ‘car boot’. Currently
we have items at the nearly new and antique shops.
Jackie Alderton
QUIZNIGHT 18TH NOVEMBER, 2000
ooooooo
222222
ooooooo
A jolly good challenging time was had by all (we hope) !!
We raised £325 for choir funds.
Many thanks to all the people who participated and helped in various ways.
The sale of lawn-fertiliser atrecent rehearsals has raised over £35.00.
J.A.
Many thanks to Carole Terry.
DON’T
FORGET
-
Choir notelets are on sale every week at only £1.00 for 4 cards
Laurie has cards available to buy at rehearsals.
OFFICERS OF THE GPC
John Trigg - Hon. Chairman
]
Stephen Jepson Hon. Secretary & Concerts Manager
Most of you will already know that John
is the Chairman of the Guildford
Our diligent secretary has been
Philharmonic Choir .
singing with the GPC since 1991.
He usually has something to say during
the break in rehearsal.
He has been
singing
for
with
the
choir
10
A Company Director, now pretty well
years.
Other choirs he has also sung
in are the Royal Choral Society and the
University of Surrey Choir.
He is married to Hilary,
our Social Secretary and they have three daughters.
‘Prehistorically’
Stephen sang with the Marl-
His hobbies and interests include Railways, Steam
borough
Engines and Industrial History.
Stephen sings with the Holmbury St Mary Church
College
Choir
&
Choral
Society.
Now
Choir, Holmbury Choral Society, Surrey Festival Choir,
When asked his occupational status, his reply
plus other groups ad hoc (especially Madrigals).
was ‘Unfortunately | am the only tenor who works’.
Stephen lists a number of interests in order of time
(Now, | don’t know fif this is true, but | have to report it
consumption:
as it was said, but would not like to be the cause of
+
Being GPC secretary
any unrest or ill-feeling amongst the tenor section.)
3
Chairing and running the Association of
Surrey Choirs (ie Staging)
Just for the record, John is the Deputy Head
of a secondary school.
Bob Cowell - Hon. Treasurer
Bob is our treasurer
and he does it with determined
He has been a member of the GPC for
(Bahrain),
the past 12 years.
Before that he has
been
Manama
Duhar
Singers
the
(Qatar),
parenting/grand-parenting
Church and village affairs
Muscat
Singers
Singers
(Oman), Aden Light Opera Society, Guildford Singers,
The present work burden is too
much for the number of people on the GPC committee. Individuals have virtually no back-up. As soon as
someone goes on holiday, or away on business, as
secretary | immediately become the direct contact for
their brief, so | know how hard everyone else works.
I would like to see more choir members com-
Sidcup Choral Society, Penzance Choral Society and
ing forward to act as specific deputies, plus a slight
Penzance Light Opera Society.
Bob is married with two grown-up daughters.
energy to our Choir and says, ‘If it wasn’t so much
fun, there’s no way | would work so hard for nothing’.
Other comments:
efficiency.
with
International
Theatre, singing and listening to music.
Stephen devotes a tremendous amount of time and
The treasurer has a lot of responsibility
in a large choir.
*B%
Home & garden DIY
Now re-
tired he is interested in his computer, golf, badminton
increase in committee size. The present committee is
the same size as it was when the GP Office did all the
concert planning, promotion and preparation work.
and genealogy.
He feels that the GPC has a very bright future and that
the distancing of it from the Guildford Borough Council
has had a very positive effect on the Choir's development.
Laurie James -
N.F.M.S. Representative
For the past two years Laurie has been
Laurie currently finds time to sing with
lon the GPC Committee as the contact
|
with the NFMS ( National Federation of
*¢
|Music Society).
.
groups:
two other
The Ember Church Society and ‘The Acci-
dentals’, Helliford.
Look out for Laurie in
Laurie is a volunteer and Trustee of Painshill Land-
|rehearsal breaks - he is often helping to
scape Garden, Cobham.
sell Choir Notelets
Other comments: Laurie feels that the choir has much
11 years.
Laurie has been singing with the choir for
improved over the past few years, with an encourag-
Before that he sang with The Shepperton
ing influx of younger members with excellent voices.
Singers, The Epworth Choir, Woking, and the Gemini
Chorale, West Byfleet.
n
Marion Arbuckle - Patrons and Friends
Noreen Ayton - Membership
Marion rejoined the GPC in 1995, having previously sang with the choir in
She sang with
Tod Handley's time.
University and college choirs in Edinburgh and Cambridge, and then the
Lea Singers in Hertfordshire.In 1999
she came onto the GPC Committee
and now she has responsibility for looking after, and
recruiting, Patrons and Friends of the Choir.
Marion is married with three grown-up children. Her
two sons were both Guildford Cathedral Choristers.
Now retired from teaching (Cambridge, Herts, and
Guildford), Marion still does some work for her husband. She says there is never a dull moment in his
busy veterinary practice.
Marion has many interests which include :
travelling, making music, serving on local PCC and
charities. She is also a Cathedral Guide.
Feelings about the GPC: Marion feels that we're very
lucky to have ‘Jeremy and Jeremy’, musicians of such
calibre and good humour. Rehearsals are enjoyable,
the choir is friendly and enthusiastic and we have this
great opportunity to make fine music together.
Elizabeth-Claire Bazin - Programmes
Every time we have a concert a very
comprehensive, professional pro-
gramme is produced by ElizabethClaire. This is the result of consider| able effort, dedication and research
I Noreen does two important jobs on
the GPC Committee:
|* Membership Secretary
e Organiser and manager of the 100
{
Choral Society, the Engelmann Singers, Hastings
Choir plus numerous other small choral groups.
Noreen and her husband Brian are both retired teachers. Noreen was the Music specialist at St Maur’s,
Weybridge (independent R.C. .girls’ school) for 21
years. She is interested in photography, genealogy
and charity work (she is P.A to the Executive Chairman and founder of Voices for Hospices).
When asked for her feelings about the GPC
Noreen says ‘ | love it! After five years as Membership Secretary, | think | now know everyone by name.
It's a pleasure to come to rehearsals and to see how
our standards are continuing to rise, year by year.’
My one wish is to see more
Other comments:
commitment to regular attendance and involvement,
from every member of the choir, throughout the year.
There still seems to be an element of
selecting which concerts to take in by some members.
Alan Batterbury - Publicity & ticket sales
Alan has lived in the Guildford area
for twenty five years and during that
time he has sang with the Epworth
Choir and Guildford Choral Society.
He joined the GPC in April 1999.
Alan is married to Elizabeth.They have
two grown-up children and one granddaughter. Since retiring from the com-
§ on her part.
&8 Elizabeth-Claire has been a member
'
of the GPC for three years, but says it feels longer
than that. She has sung with various church choirs,
Pembroke College, Cambridge, Chapel Choir, Cambridge University Chorus and the Bach Choir before
joining us.
Working as a solicitor in London, Elizabeth-Claire lives
in Guildford with her husband, Jerome and dog, William, a goldfish and a hamster. She likes working with
animals and children, and would like to travel the
world.
She says she feels that being on the GPC Committee
and having the responsibility for the programmes is a
lot of hard work, but worth it in the end.
Club
{ She joined the choir in 1994,
Previously she sang with the Royal
puter industry Alan still finds time to do occasional
spells of consultancy work. He is a member of the
Rotary Club of Ripley and Send, enjoys a bit of painting and drawing, and walking holidays in Europe with
friends
He hopes that we can raise the level of ticket
that we can always sing to a full house.
so
sales,
‘If Guildford Choral can do it, so can we’ !
(See article on page 3 )
Margaret Dentskevich - Newsletter Editor
Margaret has been with the GPC for over 4 years. Years ago she sang with the Knaphill and St
Johns Operatic Society, Epworth Choir and The Gemini Chorale at West Byfleet.
l For the past two years she has been editing the GPC newsletter and though it involves quite a
bit of hard work, it is very interesting meeting old and new members and getting to know what
goes on ( and great practice for one’s computer skills!!)
A retired teacher, she has three grown-up children. She enjoys playing a little golf, tennis,
walking, travelling and has recently started to try her hand at silver-smithing
Jackie Alderton - Fund-raising
Christine Medlow - Librarian
Jackie has been singing with the GPC
for longer than she can remember
(about 11 years)
a
concerts
Christine is our Music Librarian - always
and well organised to distribute
hired music to choir members. Christine
|[ready
In the past she was
member of Croydon
Bach Choir,
Nonesuch Opera Co., Woking Choral
Society and Southampton University
_|Choir. She is married to Chris, who
acts as front-of-house manager at
in the Cathedral.
They have 2 children:
Robert (studying at university) and Charlotte (a budding thespian/singer). Jackie is a teacher of History at
Woking
High School (ATOGTP). Special interests,
apart from singing, include all aspects of the theatre,
opera, heritage, Quiz Nights (!!) and walking the dog.
She is also the Front-of-House manager for
Walton and Weybridge Operatic Society.
has been a member of the GPC for 23
years.
In earlier years she was a member of the London Orpheus Choir and the
College
Chapel
Choir at
university.
Her husband, Ron is a very loyal
supporter of the GPC and her two daughters both en-
joy singing.
Education features very much in Christine’s life, as she is the Principal Examiner for GCSE
Mathematics and, also, involved in writing Mathematics text books for secondary school students.
The GPC has been an important and enjoyable part of
‘I love it ! | love the discipline
of the rehearsals, the “buzz” of performance, and be-
her life over the years. She says she has found it
interesting to see how the choir has developed. The
friendly atmosphere enables Choir members to relax
after the day’s work at the same time as working hard
preparing the music for performance.
Other comments:
| appreciate all the help from
other members re. Car-boots, quizzes, drinks etc.,
Other comments:
Thanks to all choir members
who help to make my job easier. This must be the
Feelings for the GPC:
ing a small part of an exciting and successful choir.’
and would welcome even more people becoming involved, or giving suggestions for new events. Volunteers are always welcomed.
best choir for carefully removing markings from hired
copies, and for returning the copies so promptly.
Hilary Trigg - Social secretary
Hilary is married to our Chairman, John Trigg. They have three grown-up daughters
and two
dogs.She enjoys walking, gardening and skiing. In 1968 she sang with the University
of Surrey
Choir in Guildford Cathedral, after the famous floods and before the modern university was built.
She has been a member of the GPC since giving up work to have her first baby, who
is now 26
years old. She is a secondary teacher.
.| Feelings about the GPC: ‘It is a very important part of my life.
| feel very privileged to sing and en" joy music with such a gifted collection of people: the Choir, the two Jeremys, the
orchestras and
soloists.
| am very proud of the concerts we put on. | often arrive exhausted and stressed at
7-30 pm on Monday evening and go home a new person after the rehearsal.
Wedding news from Tony
| met Joan at a session of the Farnham
We had both been widowed for 5
years and had children and grandchildren. We chose
U3A Opera Group.
to marry on the 12" August, which turned out to be a
lovely day, warm and sunny. The service had a splendidly light touch to include many children. The recep-
tion for nearly 90 guests was held at my home with
one marquee on the terrace at the back of the house,
and another under some trees for the children.
Joan
and | cut the cake using my Naval sword, and my son
Stephen had the last word as our Best Man.
We believe that with the help of our families, friends
and neighbours, not to mention the ‘Clerk of the
Weather', it was the happiest wedding of the year.
Tony Macklow-Smith
Tony and Joan Macklow-Smith outside the church,
after the ceremony
Congratulations & Best
Wishes
Qo
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By e
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General items
Are you interested in a choir trip to
Covent Garden?
“Backstage tours of the Royal Opera House
offer a unique glimpse behind the scenes of
one of the busiest international opera and
ballet theatres in the world. The tour includes an introduction to the colourful history
of the theatre, an insight into how the Royal
Opera House runs today and a look at aspects of current productions. The content of
tours varies according to what is available on
the day and a visit to the auditorium is not always possible”
What is envisaged:
50 choir members and guests travel by coach on a Saturday in June or July to reach Covent Garden. We might
try to get tickets for the Opera (party rates) in the evening.
Costs: Tour £7.00, coach probably £8 + any opera tickets .
If you are seriously interested please get a form from Hilary Trigg. As we cannot say what the date we will be
and the opera programme for next summer is not available yet, we will need to have well in excess of 50 people
interested before going ahead with enquiries. We need to know by 4th December.
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—
Dreaming of Gerontius:
Bob Cowell and friends enjoying a picnic outside the
Royal Albert Hall on 25th June ,2000
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The New Year to all the members
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of the Guildford Philharmonic
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Best Wishes for Christmas and
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Choir, Friends and Patrons.
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| hope you have enjoyed reading this fifth edition of the GPC Newsletter. If you would like to make a comment or
a suggestion for an item, please don't hesitate to contact me, either during rehearsal or on 01483 768 789
Margaret Dentskevich ( Editor)
You will find more information on the Choir’s Internet Web site :
http://Iwww.GuildfordPhilharmonicChoir.org.uk
Unsigned articles are by Margaret Dentskevich.
Newsletter design and layout are by Margaret Dentskevich.
Printing and production are by courtesy of Alison Rawlinson’s company ARCS