New season...new international team

We start the new season on 15 Sep 14 with a new Music Director / Accompanist team. Daniel Galbreath who was appointed at the end of last season and hails from the United States will be joined by Sofia Sarmento from Portugal. This is an exciting development in the choir structure and we hope will lead to some fresh new ideas and some interesting concerts. Daniel is a Doctorate level student at the Birmingham Conservatoire having completed his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting at the end of the last academic year. Sofia is a postgraduate student, also at the Birmingham Conservatoire furthering her piano studies.

Daniel and Sofia both have extensive and varied experience and will be a real asset to the choir as we look for new ways to develop. In  order to get everything working well we have also decided to focus on our Christmas event on the 20th of December and Daniel has put together a fantastic programme to represent Christmas Through the Ages. This will give Daniel chance to concentrate some time on developing the singing quality of the choir as well as learning the material required for the concert which will include Gregorian Chant, works by Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Britten and Holst amongst others. To top it we are hoping to perform a new piece especially commissioned for the choir by composer Ed Denham. It promises to be an exciting season we look forward to getting started. 

At this point I would also like to extend a huge vote of thanks to Jonathan Stamp who has moved on having completed his studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire and is now an organ scholar at Norwich Cathedral. Jonathan was a great guy to have around, not least demonstrated by his commitment to helping us to secure a replacement for his post which has led to Sofia joining us. We all wish you every success for the future!

Enjoy the summer break and we look forward to seeing current and new members in September and our followers at the last weekend before Christmas!