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.