From Jean and Ken Matthews............................

Hi all,

Thought you may like to know from very proud grandparents, Katherine from the sops has given birth to her first born child in the early hours of today (with a little help from our son Chris).  She's had a 71/2 lb baby girl named Olive Rose.Her Parents are very happy but exhausted! This is our second grand daughter but we are still very excited.

Jean and Ken Matthews.

from Tenor Joe.........

What a nice man:

Hi Ed, 

It is with quite 'gutted-ness' that I'm am going to have to bring my Chamber Choir journey to a close. There are a few blossoming things happening on Monday nights this term and co-leading a new drumming group for the Accessible Learning programme is one of them, so obviously as much as I enjoy the Chamber Choir, I'd be daft not to take up these kind of opportunities. 

I'd just like to say in terms of my own development, that getting involved with this group is one of the most valuable learning experiences of my traineeship, and that observing in particular the way you lead and interact with a group of people has been quite priceless. 

Can you please pass on my thanks to the group, who welcomed me so warmly, back in June and a special thanks to the lads in the Tenore, who kept me in check!

Thank you Ed, it was a hell of a blast, and I now have quite a mad enthusiasm for choral music and crazy harmony. If I can do anything for you in the future, please give me a shout. I'd be more than happy to get involved!

Have fun, and Happy New Year!

Joe Johnston

Community Music Trainee

Latin

Dear All,

Wt RVW in mind (and others), Adam has found this useful guide on Latin pronounication: www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/ecclesiastical_latin.htm.

Being a bit of a saddo, I am always interested in pronounciation guides, espcially for Latin. The internet is not very helpful here - does anyone know of any great guides we can use that show the difference between say English and German Latin prounciations? Never mind in different times...............

Thanks,

Ed

RVW Mass in g minor

Dear All,

Thansk for a really great first run at the RVW last night. It was fun! And it's always good to have a go. 19 rehearsals to go until our big gig.....................................

Here's two links to the work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I45vri18Lxc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Xp4TNJfc4&feature=related

If you are interested in getting your own recordings, choose something with a small professional choir recorded recently.

As I said, we are delighted to be sharing this concert wt a semi-professional quartet, Marcato. As well as singing the quartet parts of the Mass they will have their own sections of the concert and join us for other works. We are really lucky that they have agreed to be part of this concert and that we are sharing the stage with them. They are a real boost!

Looking forward to more next week,

Ed

2012 Chamber Choir Trip

Plans are beginning to be made for the 2012 Chamber Choir trip. This year it will be to DUBLIN over the weekend of the 18th and 19th August.

Nicky has started to compile a list of possible singing venues however if there is anyone in the choir (or a choir hanger-on) who knows the city she would be really grateful for their input, just to review the list and add any suggestions for alternative venues. Please let her know if you can help.

Also it would be great if someone else could help out with looking at a hotel suggestion for the choir as well as finding a local restaurant for the Saturday night as we did in Amsterdam. Again please let Nicky know if you can help.

We will keep you informed about how things pan out with the venues but it would be really useful to know NOW how many singers we are likely to have. So please could you drop us an email if you will be coming along for the fun.

Many thanks

The Champs

Spring Term Dates

Dates for this term are:

•  9th January-26th March inclusive, with "half term" on 5th March (Please note this is not the same week as the local schools' half term)

(summer term dates to be confirmed in next few weeks)

Don't forget!

Choir starts this Monday! Champs are meetinmg beforehand so drop us a note if you want anything discussing.

Looking forward to a hard sing!