Merry Christmas!

Have a great break everyone. Here's some amazing singing to get you in the mood: http://youtu.be/FUXy1H7fxCQ.

See you in January.

Ed

Coverage of Ustinov gig

Dear friends,


I'm sure you'll be impressed by the coverage of our Ustinov gig in the college's Michaelmas term e-newspaper. See P 12 + 13 in particular. Young Alice has done some homework!

Click to download latest edition (the top one). Its a pdf file.


http://www.dur.ac.uk/ustinov.college/college_life/ustinovian/

Again, thanks to all who were able to come along.

Adam

Carols in Shotley Bridge

Hi all, on tusday the 20th dec there will be a half an hour or so of singing around the christmas tree in Shotley Bridge.


If you are interested in coming let me know and i'll keep you up to date with weather etc...

Cheers

Jamie

Biebl at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, August 2011

The Biebl recording is now on YouTube so here’s the link. It’s from the performance at Oude Kerk.


http://youtu.be/TBkwbsdmSKk



If people still want a cd of the recording, that’s fine, let Sheila know by e-mail and she’ll ask Dave to print them off.

Gibside on 17th December cancelled

Dear singers,

Just to confirm that we will not be singing at Gibside on the 17th. This is one of those unfortunate mix-ups which happen now and then, involving an e-mail which vanished into the ether. Apologies from both Gibside and me, as I know some of you were looking forward to bringing friends and family along to the carols by candlelight.

We shall have another opportunity to sing at Gibside in one of their regular concerts next year. This time we shall be able to be more free in our choice of repertoire and, hopefully, the chapel will not be quite as cold as it will be in mid-December!

Season's Greetings to you all.

Enid

from Mr Steve the Tenor Man......

Hi All

As I mentioned last night, I'm on the hunt for some extra support for my little choir at Longfram for the 9 lessons & carols service on Weds 21st.  Same deal as previous years - 4 choir pieces (Sop, Alt, Men parts), the rest are standard carols (with descants if we have enough sops), then down the road to the Angler's Arms for a post service drink. 

As you're all so competent, only one rehearsal required and maybe a quick warm-up on the night.  Dates and times as follows:

Rehearsal - Friday 16th @7:00pm

9 Lessons & Carols - Wednesday 21st @7:30pm

Music is stuff we've done in the past and will be: 

Myn liking

This is the truth sent from above

I saw three ships

Good Christians all rejoice (In ducli jubilo tune...)

Contact me (steven.buckley@talk21.com or 07789958782) to let me know if you can come and I'll send you a scan of the music; books will be available at the rehearsal.

Many Thanks

Steve

Danny Boy............

Dear Gents!

You will remember that I gave you Danny Boy a few weeks ago. Could you have a practice over crimbo please?

Here's a link to help you:



Although I was rather taken by this performance too:



ps. if the videos don't show in the email follow the link to the website below and you'll find them.

Thanks,

Ed

Hall 2 wt PV

Congratulations! What a great gig to finish the term. Thank you for all your energy, commitment and great, great singing. It was a real pleasure doing such a lovely concert wt Philharmonic Voices (a choir only a year old! Watch out for them), but it was also lovely to hear the choirs mixing backstage and praising each other's singing.

Here's a few treats for you from the Adult Programme facebook page:






You may also be aware that the Amsterdam movie is up on YouTube now:



Thanks to Dave and Sheila for all their work on this.

So Merry Christmas all of you. Thanks to the Champs as ever for all their work, have a great break, enjoy all your other singing commitments and see you on 9 January for some Rytmus!

Ed

St Chad's Bensham and Hall 2 on Monday

Thank you! One and all for helping us through some rather challenging times last night. I am sorry for the places where I failed (programmes back to front, organist never receiving the Purcell etc etc) - no excuse except the endless tide of life. You will be aware that it's not how I like things to be so I expect to be chastised severely by the Champions when we next meet.

That said, you sounded quite amazing last night. The church was obviously cold (although some hardy souls said that they have felt colder) but what a place to sing! The music sang from the stalls and altar was particularly effective, with Birthday Sleep and This Have I Done really standing out. There were some challenges, but we are on a year long journey to St George's Jesmond in July.

So thank you for all your patience and hard work. It really did pay off.

Now - Monday. This concert will have a completely different feel, sharing the stage as we are with Philharmonic Voices, another of the Adult Programme choirs, directed by Simon Fidler. The idea is that we take turns in the first half (us first, them second) and Simon will conduct the Grieg . After the break we'll do the same thing the other way round, interspersed by carols (carol sheet amended!) and culminating in a joint O Magnum Mysterium directed by yours truly.

I haven't decided what we will sing in our sections yet, but it will be a smaller and lighter programme and taken from last night's repertoire, so please just bring it along.

There is a joint rehearsal at 17:45 in Hall 2 for those that can make it. Please enter the building by Stage Door (to the rear of the building) and explain who you are. We have dressing rooms behing Hall 2 which we can access after the rehearsal. The rehearsal will finish at 18:30 and the concert starts at 19:00. We can have a wee social afterwards in the cafe.

Black wt a Splash wt Black Folders!

Looking forward to it and thanks again.

Ed

Chamber Choir Concerts Saturday and Monday

Saturday 3 December

St Chad’s Bensham

Probably easiest route is from the B601 (Lobley Hill Road/Bensham Road) that runs from the end of the Team Valley to Gateshead Civic Centre roundabout, then take Rawling Road going south off the B601 (at the Whickham House Pub on the corner), then keep on Rawling Road and the church is on that road on the junction with Westminster Street
16:30 Choir Rehearsal
17:30 Rehearsal wt organ
18:30 Break
19:00 Concert
21:00 End

Dress: black wt a splash
Tickets on the door: £5

Monday 5 December
Hall 2 The Sage Gateshead

18:00 Joint rehearsal, in Hall 2
18:30 Break
19:00 Concert
21:00 End and drinks in café

Dress: black wt a splash
Tickets from Box Office: £5

Please come in Stage Door (to the rear on the building) and ask for directions to Hall 2

Programme to be decided after the St Chad’s concert – but no surprises.

Oh Lor.

Here we go again,

Ed

Our winter programme.......

Ther Sage Gateshead Chamber Choir in Amsterdam on YouTube

or link to YouTube:
http://youtu.be/ZM0JuAlP-3M

Many thanks to Dave for all his hard work putting this together - brings back great memories.....

Shotley Bridge, this Saturday 26th November.......from Jamie

Right so...

Getting to shotley Bridge is really quite easy! (post code DH8 0HH)
From Newcastle head towards Swalwell and follow signs for Consett.
From Durham head towards the hospital (the A691) and follow signs for Consett, then from
Consett follow signs for Shotley Bridge.

Otherwise there is some pretty darned good public transport from Newcastle and Durham!

In terms of parking in Shotley there is little, however there will be event parking at the Cricket
Club (DH8 0TN) as usual please park considerately seeing as there are some rather major bus
routes through the village!

Meet a little before 3.00pm at Sale Pepe-the big restaurant on the big bend (you'll remember
from last year!) !I'll be about but if you can't see me or anyone else from choir, ask any of
the staff and they'll point you in the right direction!

At 3.00pm we start warming up/topping and tailing!

We sing from 3.30pm-4.15pm, which is a really nice slot, IN the Methodist church.

The weekend looks MEGA so please come much earlier and enjoy our beautiful village and
everything our lovely little businesses have to offer!

and here is the repertoire and approximate order of things!

All Creatures Now Bennet

As Torrents in Summer Elgar

The Shower Elgar

Away in a Manger (100C p61)

Ding Dong merrily (100C p82)

Ave Maris Stella Grieg

O magnum mysterium Lauridsen

A Christmas Carol Charles Ives

O little town of Bethlehem (100C p234)

Ave Maria Biebl

In dulci jubilo Pearsall (100C p182)

O nata lux Tallis

Esti dal Kodaly

Turot Kodaly

Cantate Domino Monteverdi

O come, all ye faithful (100C p226)


I for one am greatly looking forward to it!
See you there!

and here is a snap of the hardy souls who made it through the snow last year.....

Baby News from Susan!

Introducing William Henry Sanderson! (alongside a very proud big sister Hannah)

Born 18th Oct, 7lb 12oz

Almost 5 weeks old now - not sure where the time has gone - life is one big blur at the moment!

Hope to pop into a rehearsal with him once I'm allowed to drive again ...

Good luck with all the Christmas concerts.

Susan xxx

Amsterdam Film

Dear All,

The film is ready! Ed's fault it took so long but it's done now.

Dave has been busy printing dvds this weekend. Please could you indicate by e-mail to Sheila how many you would like? She'll bring some tomorrow and some next week. It’ll be £2 again to cover the cost of the disc and printing.

 

There will also be a cd with 2 full length versions of the Biebl. A donation of £1 would be good, to cover the cost of the cds and printing. 

Thanks to Sheila and Dave for all their hard work.

St Chad's Bensham Programme

Here we go folks................ Hopefully something for everyone and designed so that we can show off our Holst and Monteverdi!

Thanks for all your energy and a great rehearsal.

Sing Joyfully (Byrd)

Ave maris stella (Grieg)

Cantate Domino (Monteverdi)

Organ solo

Esti Dal (Kodaly) & Turot Eszik (Kodaly)

Sound the Trumpet (Purcell), SA

Psalm 23 (Schubert), SA

Ave Verum (Byrd) or O Nata Lux (Tallis)

Birthday Sleep (Tavener)

Daemon (Orban)

Interval (tea, coffee and wine)

Congregational Carol (Once in Royal)

O Magnum Mysterium (Lauridsen)

Balulalow (Warlock)

This Have I Done for My True Love (Holst)

Congregational Carol (Hark the Herald)

Sleep (Whitacre)

Ave Maria (Biebl), TB

Beatus Vir (Monteverdi)

Congregational Carol (O Come)

Nunc Dimittis (Holst)

In the meantime, here's a link to the Holst for private listening: tinyurl.com/cum5dug

Ta,

Ed

A concert you might be intersted in - from Jonathan

Ustinov SCR - from Adam

Thanks are pouring in (well, OK, dripping) from those hearing us on Thursday at Ustinov College, so again my thanks.


If anyone is interested in joining the SCR do visit:

http://www.ustinovscr.org/

You don't have to be 'academic', though an understanding of university life would be an asset, not do you have to be an employee of the university in any capacity. Indeed, diversity of background adds to the richness of the experience of SCR membership and mentoring: If you'd like to become a mentor to the wonderful post grads, there are some vacancies, I believe (certainly for next academic year). It isn't onerous (or paid!) but most enjoyable and can be very rewarding. The world come to Ustinov!

See you all on Monday

Adam

from Adam (posted again as I believe this didn't get circulated when I posted it previously - fingers crossed this time!)

Dear All,


On behalf of the SCR of Ustinov College, thank you, thank you, thank you to those who came and sang last night. We really went down well with both SCR members and the students, many of whom (both sets) had no previous experience of our kind of music so we successfully reached out to a new audience.

There may well be enquiries from other colleges as a consequence. If so, we shall have to consider whether it is appropriate to sing only for our suppers.

Again, many thanks and well done, especially to Enid for leading us.

I shall try and discover who was videoing and photographing us so we can pop something onto the website.

Adam

from Adam re Ustinov College last night

Dear All,


On behalf of the SCR of Ustinov College, thank you, thank you, thank you to those who came and sang last night. We really went down well with both SCR members and the students, many of whom (both sets) had no previous experience of our kind of music so we successfully reached out to a new audience.

There may well be enquiries from other colleges as a consequence. If so, we shall have to consider whether it is appropriate to sing only for our suppers.

Again, many thanks and well done, especially to Enid for leading us.

I shall try and discover who was videoing and photographing us so we can pop something onto the website.

Adam

slightly revised repertoire for Ustinov College 10th November

Sing joyfully - William Byrd


As torrents in summer - Edward Elgar

The shower - Edward Elgar

All creatures now - John Bennet

Ave Verum Corpus  -William Byrd



Cantate Domino  - Claudio Monteverdi

Ave Maris Stella -  Edward Grieg

Locus iste  - Anton Bruckner

Esti dal  - Zoltan Kodaly

Turot eszik a cigany  - Zoltan Kodaly



Ave Maria -  Biebl



O magnum mysterium -  Morten Lauridsen

Sleep Eric - Whitacre

Beati quorum via  - Charles V Stanford

My spirit sang all day  - Gerald Finzi



Il est bel et bon  - Passereau



In reserve

O nata lux  - Tallis

Ave Maria  - Parsons

Cello? from Simon

“Does anybody know how I might be able to borrow a ‘cello for a period of a couple of weeks at a time? My next door neighbour has a Danish lady friend who plays the ‘cello at home and with a Baroque quartet. However, she cannot bring the instrument with her when she comes to visit and asked me last week if I knew a source for an instrument that she could borrow to keep her hand in. Visits tend to coincide with Danish school holidays, the next being for Christmas. If you have any ideas, and thanks to Sheila for one, then please let me know. Simon”

Repertoire for Ustinov College concert 10th November

Sing Joyfully - Byrd
As Torrents in Summer - Elgar
The Shower - Elgar
All Creatures Now - Bennett
Cantate Domino - Monteverdi
Ave Maris Stella - Grieg
Locus Iste - Bruckner
Esti Dal - Kodaly
Turot eszil a cigany - Kodaly
O magnum mysterium  - Lauridsen
Sleep - Whitacre
Beati quorum via - Stanford
My Spirit Sang all Day - Finzi
Il est bel et bon - Passereau

In reserve:
O nata lux - Tallis
Ave Maria - Parsons

Poster/Flyer for our St Chad's Concert

Detailed arrangements for November and December concerts:

Times for upcoming concerts:

• Ustinov College, Durham, Thursday 10th November

For those singing at Ustinov College there will be a quick rehearsal before normal Chamber Choir on Monday 7th November at 6.15pm in the normal rehearsal room.

On the 10th November meet at the college at 7.00pm. We will sing from 7.30pm for about an hour. The college is providing food and drinks for us all afterwards. Adam will bring maps for finding the college to chamber choir rehearsal on Monday 7th November.

Black with a Splash.

• Shotley Bridge, Saturday 26th November

Meet at Shotley Bridge Methodist Church (right in the middle of the village) at 3.00pm. Then we will sing from 3.30pm for about 30minutes. There are lots of events and activities in the village from 10.30am so do come along earlier or stay later if you wish.

Jamie recommends public transport as parking could be busy.  Buses numbers 45 and 46 come from John Lewis in town via the metro centre. Parking that there is is central to the village so to get there you only need directions to DH8.

Not Black with a Splash - just informal. Victorian clothing if you wish.

• St Chad's, Bensham, Saturday 3rd December

Meet at the church at 4.00pm. Rehearse until 6.00pm. Concert at 7.00pm for about an hour, plus an interval when refreshments will be served.

Black with a Splash.

• Hall 2, The Sage Gateshead, Monday 5th December

Meet at The Sage at 6.00pm for rehearsal. Concert starts at 7.00pm, finishes about 9.00pm (shared with PV and there will be an interval). This is a ticketed concert so all audience will need to purchase tickets (only £5) from the ticket office.

Black with a Splash.

• Gibside Chapel, Saturday 17th December

Meet at the chapel at 6.15pm. Concert starts at 7.00pm - will last about an hour.

Black with a Splash but WARM CLOTHES as it is likely to be very cold in the chapel.

A note from Don Wright about a great gig........................................

Dear Friends and Singers

I am writing to let you know of a good concert that is coming up next Wednesday, in which Jean and I are singing, and which is in aid of an excellent cause. 

Here are the details:-

Where: St.James's United Reformed Church, Newcastle (near City Hall and Northumbria University)

When: Wednesday 2 November at 7.30 pm
By: Northern English Singers (under Howard Layfield) plus horn and harp instrumentalists
In aid of: Disability North
Tickets: £10 and available on the door

   

"I Sound My Horn"
This is the title of one of the songs to be sung at the concert. Christopher Griffiths, a horn player in

the Northern Sinfonia, has suffered for a number of years from CMT disease which attacked his limbs
and led in 2010 to his decision to have his lower legs amputated. He has recovered quickly, with comparatively little interruption to his professional musical life.
In recent times he has had help from the charity, Disability North, and with another horn player Ben Woolley, and concert harpist Lucy Haslar, he will take part in the concert to raise funds for thebcharity.
Chris and his friends will join the Northern English Singers to perform 'Four Songs for Female Voices' by Brahms, and Chris and Ben will play horn music by Mozart, Schuller and Koprasch.

The concert will feature some Percy Grainger arrangements: the Irish Tune From County Derry (Danny Boy), the sea shanty Shallow Brown and the Lincolnshire folk song Brigg Fair. There will also be solo items and a selection of Spiritual and Gospel songs.

Don Wright

St Chad's Bensham

Dear All,

The organist of St Chad's has this great page of photos of the church on flickr: http://tinyurl.com/6zp5lv5

It's an amazing space, but I would particularly point you towards this extraordinary picture. Check out the text for fascinating Milner and Ryton links: http://tinyurl.com/5trh52q

Bonkers!

Ed

Another sing in December? This time by candlelight.....

We have been invited to perform the Carols by Candlelight concert in Gibside Chapel on Saturday 17th December 7-8pm

Please could you let the champions know by emailing tsgcchoir@gmail.com if you can sing.  We would be grateful for your earliest response.

This could be a really lovely atmospheric concert.

The Chapel does not need a huge choir but we are aware that so close to Christmas people may have full diaries already.

Please note that this is not a fixed date yet as this will only go ahead if we have enough singers and someone to lead us.

Thanks

TSGCC Champions

Rob and Julie on the radio - 25th October 6-7pm

Amendment...........

Isn't there always at least one? I forgot Turot!

Ed

All Creatures Now (Bennet)
And I Saw a New Heaven (Bainton)
As Torrents in Summer (Elgar)
Ave Maria (Biebl), TB
Ave maris stella (Grieg)
Ave Verum (Byrd)
Balulalow (Warlock)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMioSOETkRE
Beatus Vir (Monteverdi)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPNZeT_7OR4
Birthday Sleep (Tavener)
Cantate Domino (Monteverdi)
Coelis Ascendit Hodie (Stanford)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8maeFdlpyvw
Daemon (Orban)
Esti Dal (Kodaly)
Evening Hymn (Balfour Gardner)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xPSJP899lE
Evening Hymn (Purcell), SA
Hodge Told Sue (anon), TB	New
Il est bel et bon (Passereau)
Jubilate Deo (Britten)	New
Missa Brevis (Palestrina)
My Spirit Sang All Day (Finzi)
Nunc Dimittis (Holst)
O Danny Boy (Trad. Arr. Marvin), TB
O Magnum Mysterium (Lauridsen)
O Nata Lux (Tallis)
Psalm 23 (Schubert), SA
Sing Joyfully (Byrd)
Sleep (Whitacre)
Sound the Trumpet (Purcell), SA
The Shower (Elgar)
This Have I Done for My True Love (Holst)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3PAshmHdqU
Turot Eszik (Kodaly)
Rytmus (Hrosovsky)	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAQji9A88eo