SHREWSBURY CANTATA CHOIR
Other events and activities
Other Events and Activities
2024
Summer Garden Party
Party pieces, food and drink, fund raising and sun.
See the photographs !
Thank you
Vicki and Gordon for the loan of your garden.
Judy for all the organising.
Roger C - photographer.
Everyone who helped, came, performed and donated.
2018 November
2018 November
Bob Chilcott: Pity of War 4 November 2018To mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Wilfred Owen , the renowned modern composer Bob Chilcott set poems by Wilfred Owen, a native of Shropshire, to music. Theatre Severn staged the first public performance of this work. Shrewsbury Cantata Choir was honoured to be invited to join other local choirs in this performance which was conducted by Bob Chilcott.
2017 September
A return visit to France to meet Les Voix Amies and perform with them in Eglise Notre Dame a Hesdin, directed by Cantata founder Ian Ward.
2016 December
Members of Cantata Choir sang choruses from Mozart's Don Giovanni at The Assembly Rooms, Ludlow. Thomas Payne directed.
2016 October
Les Voix
Amies
visit Shrewsbury Cantata Choir.Les Voix Amies was founded by Ian Ward, the founder of Shrewsbury Cantata Choir, after Ian relocated to France in 2006.Both choirs sang in the URC, English Bridge, Shrewsbury on 1st October 2016.
Photos and Concert
2015
2015
A garden party
2015 March
2015 March
Come and Sing :
Opera Day2 March 2015. St Chads Church. Shrewsbury.Famous Opera Choruses and Arias 'The Big Shrewsbury Sing Along'.‘Come and sing fabulous opera choruses in the company of some of the region’s finest young soloists.’ Who could resist the invitation? Our daughter came up from Brighton especially for the occasion to join about 60 others including many members of the Cantata Choir. On a bright, crisp spring day we all gathered in the lovely, sunlit interior of St Chad’s. After a brief warm up we were off. Thomas had wisely redrafted the programme cutting out some of the more ambitious numbers we had tried and fluffed in rehearsals. What we experienced was an exhilarating ride through the operatic repertoire, starting with the slow, sorrowful Lament and Final Chorus from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, stopping off at Mozart, Donizetti, Bizet and Verdi on the way, before ending up almost two hundred years later with the flamboyant Waltz Scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Although the pre-concert blurb had assured us that all choruses would be sung in English, we bravely (and I think rightly) ventured into Italian and French...but wisely did not attempt the Russian! All the time we were accompanied by the brilliant Shah Johan Sharidzuan. Several of the choruses showcased our soloists, all of whom were students from the Birmingham Conservatoire, namely Aimée Daniel (mezzo soprano), Chloë Pardoe (mezzo soprano), Robert Tilson (tenor) and Wesley Biggs (bass). It was hard to believe such full voices could come from such young people. They should all do well! The day had plenty of free time to relax our voices, refresh our bodies and enjoy the sunshine. Several of us took the opportunity to get to know those who had joined us for the day. Many of them were members of other local choirs whilst quite a few seemed to travel the country in pursuit of singing workshops. The bass next to me had recently returned from a singing holiday in Georgia – the country, not the American state! All had excellent voices. Let’s hope a few of them will choose to settle down and sing with us regularly. After the tea break we reassembled for a short concert in front of a small but select audience. This was the chance for the soloists to display their full ability as they interwove famous arias with our choruses. Outstanding for me was the tenor and bass duet ‘Au Fond du Temple Saint’ from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Apparently they had only decided to throw that one in at the last minute! Even Shah Johan had his moment in the sun as he zipped through Chopin’s Minute Waltz, fingers flying in all directions. My only reservation was doing the most challenging piece last – the Tchaikovsky Waltz Scene – and feeling we had not really done it justice. But overall it was a brilliant day. Great music, wonderful soloists and accompanist, enthusiastic singers...and masses of lovely sunshine to boot. In the words of our daughter: "What a fantastic day! Being part of a choir that has been singing for a number of years was a great opportunity and to sing in the company of such talented soloists was a real delight. I'm looking forward to the next workshop already!"Many thanks to Keith and Thomas for putting the day together and to all the many others who made this new venture such a great success. Anthony Rathbone.
2014 October
2014 October
Workshop with Marianne AylingJust under 30 Cantata members congregated in the comfortable surroundings of Crowmoor Baptist Church armed with Autumn Term music ready for an exhilarating and enlightening day of music making with Marianne. Drinks and chocolate biscuits were provided and we were able to enjoy relaxing together in our breaks from the hard work of the day. The brief supplied to Marianne was to enable us to learn to work together as a choir better as well as enabling us to feel more concert ready. Under Marianne’s expert tutelage, the morning session got under way focusing on correct posture, vowel placement, phrasing and interpretation to name but a few, all delivered with practical examples and anecdotes along the way. There was much hilarity at a number singing game which involved singing some numbers, clapping and touching knees on others. This was then followed by some intensive work on our commissioned piece ‘Night’ by Ami Oprenova-Movement 1 where the focus was on phrasing, harmony and most importantly listening to each other. By the end the phrase beginning ‘In heavens high bowers’ sounded wonderful we were blending together beautifully as one. This was followed by work on the Vaughn Williams-Dona Nobis Pacem working on Movement 5 which incorporated some intensive work on pitch, annunciation, how to sing questioning phrases, overall projection and dynamics. Following Marianne’s techniques learnt in the earlier warm up session we were able to produce 50% more sound and brought a real sense of feeling to the piece. The key motto to tackling this movement and work as a whole was support and energy.After a well-earned rest and lunch the afternoon commenced with further vocal exercises to quote Marianne ‘singing the alphabet never sounded so good’. Further study was then commenced on movement 2 of ‘Night ‘which has a modern syncopated rhythm which required ferocious counting to 5.Never has it been so difficult and so many variant methods. We almost cracked it!! This gave us a good opportunity to incorporate the brief of the day working together. The workshop concluded with work on two spirituals singing in rounds accompanied by a lovely ostinato from the tenors and basses and gave everyone a chance to demonstrate the skills they had learnt and proved a memorable culmination to a fantastic day.Mention must be given to Sally for an exquisite solo in the work ‘Night’ and to Catrina for giving up her time in accompanying us on the day and for her unending patience helping us with the difficult rhythm in Movement 2 of ‘Night’. Also to Nicola and Keith for their organisation of this fantastic event. Emma Thomas.
2013 June
2013 June
Trip to L'Eglise Saint Pierre at Dompierre sur AuthieCantata travelled to Dompierre sue Authie to join Chorale Albert Laurent d'Abbeville and Les Amis du Patrimoine to perform at the Festivall de Musique et d'art en Vallee d'Authie. Mozart's Solemn Vespers was sung. Ian Ward directed and we were accompanied by Bridgwater Symphonia from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Soloists included Emma Pierce.
Many Photos!
2013 March
2013 March
Rotary Concert. Telford. At the beginning of March 2013, Cantata Choir, under our musical director David Leeke, took part in the Sounding Brass and Voices concert at Telford College of Arts and Technology, Wellington, organised by the Rotary Clubs of Ironbridge and Wellington. The venue was one half of the huge TCAT sports hall, divided by a low screening curtain for the occasion. Cantata Choir provided the vocal filling in a sandwich consisting of the Jackfield Elcock Reisen Brass Band and the Abraham Darby Academy Show Band. It was great to take part in such a large-scale and popular event and to listen to these excellent brass bands.
At the Rotary Club’s request, we sang both sacred and secular music: in the first half extracts from Haydn’s Nelson Mass and in the second half show songs, including A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square in the arrangement by Anthony Dowlen, our deputy director. During our rendition of the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, the mischievous Abraham Darby teddy bear suddenly appeared from behind the screen to join in the picnic, much to the merriment of those members of the audience and choir who spotted him.We were delighted to have played our part in this extremely worthwhile event which raised over £2,000 in aid of the Pain Clinic at the Princess Royal Hospital, Wellington, and would like to thank the Rotary Club for their kind invitation. We hope to take part in another Rotary Club event in future.
2011
2011
Jubilee YearTo celebrate this notable landmark in the choir's life, we were delighted to welcome back our Founder Conductor, Ian Ward, to Shrewsbury to conduct with our current Director, a concert of works chosen by him.Ian ventured back across the channel to enjoy our Salopian cuisine and most especially our Salopian beers.We looked forward to having him back and his quiet understated manner of castigating, in particular the Tenor section, was a highlight for us all.We also looked forward to once again hearing his views on our dear ladies in the Alto section, who on one occasion were referred to " as useful for throwing to French officialdom.".Ian was joined by David Leeke, who took over from Ian as Musical Director in 2006, and Thomas Payne, MD 2013 - 2018.
2008 October
Songs of Praise BBC Songs of Praise recorded over three days in St Chad's Church, and St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury Director David Leeke.Sound recording 2/10/08Solo Filming in St Marys and St Chads 4/10/08TV Recording 8/10/08Broadcast 21/12/08
2008 May
Visit to Susice. Czech Republic
2007 Autumn
06-Oct-07 Come and Sing Handel: Messiah . St Alkmunds Church
2007 Summer
02-Jul-07.
Svatobor Choir: Programme of church music.
Cantata Haydn:Te Deum, Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus Holy Trinity Church. Meole Brace.
With Svatobor Choir
2002 February
23-Feb-2002. Cosy Hall. Italian Salad, Genee. Italian Evening dinner.
Sung with Lucy, Sally Owen, Jenny Chugg, David Grundy.
2000 December
15-Dec-2000. St Peter & St Paul Parish Church, Wem. Shepherd's Cradle Song, Charles McPherson; Fairer than the Sun at Morning, Richard Williams; Misc Carols. At request of Dick Wycherly,
2000 May
1 -May-2000. West Midlands Showground. Miscellaneous.
Dick Wycherly Massed Choirs event at sodden WM Show.
1998 September
26-September-1998 . Theatre Clera, Welshpool. Stabat Mater, Rossini.
SC members within the North Powys Festival Choir, directed by Ian Ward.
1995 July
1-July-1995. Psalm 150: Parry.
1991 March
23-Mar-1991. Minsterley Eisteddfod. The choir performed at the Eisteddfod on 23rd March 1991 and were awarded first prize. Directed by Ian Ward.
