H&DCS Blog
Premiere of ‘A Chelmsford Service’ by Mark Bellis
We are very proud that our Musical Director Dr Mark Bellis is Course Leader, BA (Hons) Music at Colchester Institute. Mark has composed a new piece for Chelmsford Cathedral which received its premiere at the 11.15 am Sunday morning service there on 13 January 2008.
The work is a setting of the Te Deum and Jubilate for choir and organ and it has been specially written for the Cathedral Consort, the cathedral’s girls’ choir, which is directed by Robert Poyser, the cathedral’s Assistant Organist. On this occasion, they were joined by the men of the cathedral choir to perform the work. The composition has been supported by Colchester Institute’s Research and Scholarly Activity Committee and it is hoped that this may be the first of several future collaborations between the cathedral and Colchester Institute.
Joyeux Noel!
Fabulous concert brilliantly introduced by Pat Saward which really set the scene. H&DCS sang a lovely mix of carols and songs, mainly in French. Some were accompanied by Ramsey College choir, some by organ and some others also with woodwind. Great readings from Brian Firmin, great organ solo by Tony Percival and fabulous clarinet, piano and flute pieces from the Aquilo Trio. What a good deal I thought - a lovely varied musical evening for £5 with mince pies and mulled wine in the interval. Well done all!
Quote from choir member Liz Pottinger sums it all up:
"I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed taking part at last nights performance of Joyeux Noel. It was a brilliant concert with a beautiful mix of music. Our MD's belief in us paid off. Am looking forward to the new year. Many thanks to all the front of house people who did a sterling job. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all fellow members of the Choral Society!"
After a concert it is good to have a get-together so all were invited to a Christmas party at Catherine and Michael Turner's home. This was a time to recognise the hard work of the choir and the tenacity of Mark Bellis which was appreciated by everyone there. As the evening progressed we enjoyed carols round the piano and listened to a recording of several pieces from our Joyeux Noel concert which gave us food for thought...!
All work and no play!
It's hard work in rehearsal at the moment with new and challenging songs to learn plus French words to learn and pronounce properly!
The choir are finding it hard and need lots of support and appreciation so please bring your friends and tell any French people you know about this concert (which will undoubtedly be the nearest they will get to one in their own language without going over the channel!)
So please diary date 8th December at 7.00 pm at St Andrew's Halstead for an enjoyable evening. We know the choir will be pleased when they have sung well and put it behind them!
Party Time
After all the work - time for a party! Monday 18th June didn't start off looking like a the right day to have an evening party in the garden! Thankfully the wet and dull day transformed into a lovely sunny evening, as if to order for the H&DCS end of year party in Les and Rob Wood's garden in Twinstead.
We see each other every week at choir practice, work hard together but don't get the chance to chat (Mark might think otherwise!), so a party is very welcome and great fun.
As usual we all contributed some food to the table and miraculously provided a great meal for all. Thanks especially to Les and Rob for their hospitality. The garden is a lovely setting for an evening party as well as providing a navigation challenge for many to find it amongst the lanes!
It was a moment for us to say goodbye too, to two of our longest choir members, Vi Griffiths and Mary Lazell who are now retiring having been singing in the choir for over 25 years as well as contributing by being committee members in their time.
We are all sad to see Vi and Mary go as they have been great contributors to the voice parts as well as being so welcoming to all of us when we were new.
Celebrating 50 Years
'The music was very exciting!' said one concert-goer at the end of last night's programme. Exciting too for the choir as the pace was fast and kept us on our toes for every trill!
The music was exciting too - Handel's Te Deum and Coronation Anthems were sung by the choir along with the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. A very appropriate programme to celebrate a golden anniversary.
The choir, lead by Mark Bellis was accompanied by Tony Percival on organ and an orchestra with no name (you had to be there!). We were all very pleased with the orchestra who sounded superb both with the choir and whilst accompanying the Organ Concerto in F opus 4 No 5 (HWV 293).
We could not celebrate 50 years without a huge thank you to Tony Percival who has accompanied the choir for over 35 years! Our current Chair, Maggie Swainsbury made a presentation to Tony of some gorgeous English roses that our intelligence had told us would be well received!
Reflections on H&DCS 50th Year Dinner
The evening was cool for the third week in May as sixty and more of us, dressed in our finery, made our way to the Masonic Hall in Parsonage Street on Friday 25th, for a celebratory dinner to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Halstead and District Choral Society.
Unlike the weather however, the welcome we received was warm, a champagne reception followed by a three course dinner with wine. The hall looked beautiful with a spanking new banner behind the bar, and the tables with flowers and balloons all in the Choral Society's colours of blue and yellow.
The catering was first class; the service good and the Society entertained itself with soloists, odes, ditties and a quartet after the meal.
It was good to see members, guests, past members, and conductors and the mayor, our patron. A good evening was enjoyed by all, and our thanks go to the hard work of the organising committee. The question now is - can we find a good excuse for another 'bash' soon!
Elijah - Combined Concert with Braintree Choral
Saturday 21st April saw and heard H&DCS singing in Coggeshall church with Braintree District Choral Society for a joint concert singing Mendelssohn's Elijah accompanied by over 30 orchestral musicians.
The combined choir was enormous and yet in parts their singing was so soft but at all times seemed very secure. The rousing choruses were superb with orchestra at full volume. But, if I don't sing in future, I will remember to take a cushion!
Choir Uniform
Christmas was also the first viewing of the ladies wearing their new choir uniform blouses. The committee had been deliberating about uniform for some months but finally decided to make best use of the H&DCS logo on a black blouse having met all the requests on length of blouse, length of sleeve etc etc. The result is pictured below.
Little did we know that uniform is about the most contentious subject possible to introduce and we have heard of some local choirs who have been discusssing it for several years, still without agreement! Yes, of course there were some choir members who loved it, some who hated it, many who joined in with the murmerings but most were good enough to do what they were told!
Not to be left out, the men now have gold bow ties to be worn on black shirts.
Whilst we were out shopping we also bought a supply of H&DCS gold pin badges to be worn by the choir and friends at any time as a lapel badge. These high quality badges are also on sale at our concerts priced at £2.00 and we enjoy seeing them worn around Halstead.
Christmas Concert 2006
Over 200 people crammed into St Andrew's Church, Halstead to hear our Christmas Fantasia held on Saturday December 9th. For many this annual concert marks the start of 'feeling Christmassy!'
Accompanied by the organ and a quartet of excellent brass players called 'Bespoke Brass', the concert was a lively mixture of rowsing congregational carols, choir carols including Vaughan Williams Christmas Fantasia, carols from the childrens choir made up from children and students from Richard de Clare, Ramsey and Gosfield Schools.
The programme also included beautiful readings and brass pieces complete with assistance from two children with sleigh bells.