Paris and Pictures

Chamber Choir in Paris – August 2010

For the fourth consecutive year, The Sage Gateshead Chamber Choir was able to field a choir of balanced numbers for a summer trip abroad – reinforced ably by some past and ‘associate’ members. This year it was Paris, with sacred music concerts at three of the great churches in that city – Saint Severin and Saint Sulpice (both in the Latin Quarter), and the huge and glorious Saint Denis in the northern suburbs. Whilst we would love to have sung inside the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris, this was not possible; but ‘second best’, singing in the garden square directly behind the Cathedral, proved a relaxing and friendly affair with swathes of onlookers joining in the general mood of our light ‘secular’ music.
I am sure that I speak for all when I say that Saint Denis was unforgettable. There was more than one person blinking back the tears at the scale of the building and the sound of our performance – and this was just the singers! A most emotional and rewarding morning which will live on in the memory for a long time. If anyone needed persuading about the power of music and place, they will have had their answer.
After last year’s torrid heat in Barcelona, there had been a call for somewhere cooler. As it was, we fulfilled this request (just), but were blessed by hot sunny weather for the two main singing days – which is just as well as we were dashing about between concerts, cafes, and sight-seeing venues - but those who stayed over for the Monday will not forget the total change in the weather. Has it ever rained harder? Where did the 1000 people queuing up to go inside Notre Dame disappear to in the blink of an eye? Why did the writer stay outside to witness this and get soaked in the process?
We managed to pull nearly everyone together for a celebratory evening meal on the Saturday. It certainly had its memories, not least of which was the quality of the ‘cabaret’. We still fail to understand why, when confronted by a group of UK guests, the ‘cabaret’ insists in leading us in rousing choruses of Roses in Picardy and We’ll Meet Again (it was the same in Prague 3 years ago). It is also dangerous ground for anyone trying to lead a Choir in a sing-song as they tend to take over the performance with loud and multi-layered harmonies (to magnificent effect).
All in all, we held the Choir’s banner high, and enjoyed a weekend of good-humoured celebration and singing. There will be lots of photos, and hopefully some video, available in due course, so keep in touch with this site and you’ll see them. Ed fancies somewhere cooler next year – like Murmansk.
Rob Barnes


Photos from this years extra special trip can be found on- 
The Photo Page. 

Concert comments and Summer plans

Welcome to the new home of The Sage Gateshead Chamber Choir Blog. We'll start with some comments about our latest concerts.

Summer Concerts

St Brandon’s, Brancepeth, Durham – 30 June

St Brandon’s suffered a devastating fire in 1998, but is now rebuilt to an impressive standard. Set next to Brancepeth Castle, St Brandon’s must be in one of the most beautiful settings in the North East.

This was the scene for our major summer concert – with star billing being given to Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb – a festival cantata for four soloists, SATB choir, and organ composed in 1943 and based on the poem Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart (1722-1771). The poem, written while Smart was in an insane asylum, is highly idiosyncratic and an ecstatic hymn of praise and worship of God, suitably interpreted by Britten. Our five fine soloists were Emily Green and Shirley Forster (sops), Enid Mitchell (alto), Don Wright (tenor) and Adam Nichols (bass). Along with the other pieces performed a capella (see below), we were delighted to be joined once again by organist Roger Muttitt, who accompanied us on the Britten, Mozart and Bainton pieces, as well as performing two solos.

The large audience and the choir were treated to strawberries and fizz before the concert courtesy of the church, which put everyone in a fine mood for a wonderful evening’s musical celebration.

St Cuthbert’s, Shotley Bridge – 11 July

A beautiful John Dobson church tucked away up a steep bank in Shotley Bridge, was the venue for our ‘summer madrigals’ concert on a fine Sunday afternoon. This was essentially the same repertoire as for the Brancepeth concert, minus the items which needed organ accompaniment. A large audience greeted us, and was also able to hear the Choir spread its wings a little in terms of additional repertoire. Ed had been keen to introduce a few ‘novelty’ items into proceedings – items we might not otherwise have included in our standard concert repertoire, and we didn’t let him down.

Julie Gill (soprano) sang a beautiful Northumbrian folk song unaccompanied, Rob Barnes sang his own composition about Choir’s trip to Barcelona last summer, with guitar and choir supporting, and a group of 8 sang If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis. All three items were received enthusiastically, so maybe this is a sign of things to come in terms of possible variations of repertoire.


Photos for these concerts will be posted soon.

Next Concerts

Choir’s next in-church performances are in the Basilique Cathedrale de Saint Denis, and Eglise Saint-Sulpice in Paris in August. Everyone involved is greatly looking forward to these opportunities to sing to a new audience. We are also performing in some of the Paris kiosques – open-air performance spaces – including the garden of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. All exciting stuff!


Be sure to come back for more exciting Choir news.

This summer holds very exciting times for The Sage Gateshead Chamber Choir with two concerts celebrating this glorious time of year, as you can see from the posters above the first concert is at St Brandon's Brancepeth where we will be singing Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb and a series of summer madrigals, our second concert is being held at St Cuthbert's Church Shotley Bridge this concert will mainly be summer madrigals, all tickets are available from the church in advance or on the door.

We hope to see you there!