City of Wolverhampton Choir

Happy New Year

2012-01-11T10:05:00.002Z

A very happy new year! Rehearsals for Carmina Burana have got off to a good start. I think we're going to need some lessons in pronunciation though...

Messiah is rejuvenated.

2011-12-19T17:20:00.002Z

Express and Star 19th December - Jerald Smith

"Determined not to let three months' work be wasted the choir rescheduled the work for this season, and Saturday's audience in Wolverhampton was delighted that they did...all the performers sang with superb clarity of diction, beautifully pure tones and some vivid tonal colouring"

It's very pleasing to see that the review matched the positive comments of the audience as they left the church and we are all really pleased that we gave everyone the bright start to Christmas that we hoped. For those that might have been inspired, why not come and join us at Cranmer Methodist Church tonight for a mince pie and a carol or two.

Carols and mince pies

2011-12-18T10:00:00.001Z

Come and join us for a festive sing along to some traditional carols and a mince pie or two on the 19th at Cranmer Methodist Church on Newhampton Road West. We will start at 7.30pm and everyone can join in from the start. Get in to the festive spirit...oh and best of all, there is no charge so bring your friends!

Messiah delivered...

2011-12-17T22:15:00.001Z

Thanks to all who took part including the soloists and Orchestra de Camera and to those who helped out on the night. Thanks also to the audience for their good wishes. Thanks to Wolvescivic for promoting the event and we hope all who witnessed the event enjoyed a truly memorable occasion.

Thanks also go to Joe Cooper for his tireless effort in bringing the choir to such an amazing standard. Finally, a huge thank you to Dorothy Bailey who has worked for almost two years on organising this event and can be justly proud of the fabulous occasion delivered tonight.

We would all like to extend our good wishes for a very happy Christmas and prosperous New Year to all of you.

Thank heavens!

2011-12-17T14:45:00.002Z

NO SNOW

The choir are currently rehearsing hard for tonight's performance and sound fantastic. The presence of the orchestra and the soloists has lifted everything to an even higher standard and it looks like we are in for a marvellous evening.

MESSIAH with Orchestra de Camera

2011-12-05T23:09:00.015Z

On December 17th, the City of Wolverhampton Choir will attempt, once again, to deliver a magical rendition of Handel's Messiah.

This time last year the snow came and ended any hope of a performance with the town centre closing rapdly and public transport stopped.

As eagerly awaited as last year, we hope you will join us in what's set to be a wonderful evening of music and joy as we lead up to Christmas. This year we are delighted to be joined by the renouned Orchestra de Camera who will help to ensure that everyone will be in just the right mood for the season's festivities. Don't miss it!

Brahms in English

2011-10-19T20:37:00.002+01:00

Come on a tour of Europe!

2011-07-01T16:24:00.003+01:00

Our Tour of Europe concert is on Saturday 2nd July at 7.30 pm at Cranmer Methodist Church, Newhampton Road West.

We will be singing some wonderful pieces by Monteverdi, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov and others.

There should be some tickets available on the door: adults £9, concessions £8, students (with NUS card) £3.50, under 18s free.

See you there!

A moving experience...

2011-03-15T12:15:00.001Z

The Sing from Scratch performance of The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins on the 12th of March proved to be a demanding but rewarding experience for those taking part. Joe Cooper led a three hour rehearsal that challenged the seasoned veterans as much as those that had joined us to sing for the day. Joe brings a wonderful style to the whole exercise though and despite the hard work managed to keep everyone smiling as they worked through the piece, any seeing it for the first time on the day.

By the evening everyone was ready to go out and perform. Almost seventy singers took their places and treated a good sized audience to a fantastic performance. The solos by Jane Cook and Harry Castle were both excellent and the musicians did a fine job with the Last Post particularly standing out. Many of the audience left saying not only how much they had enjoyed the it but also how moving the piece was when hearing it all rather than excerpts.

Importantly, we have been able to raise a good sum of money for Help for Heroes, currently £125 from tickets with donations still to be counted we hope to top £200 for this worthwhile cause. Thank you to all who joined us for either the singing or the performance and we hope to see you again on April 9th for Rejoice! at St John's in the Square.

SING FROM SCRATCH

2011-03-03T18:10:00.006Z

On Saturday 12th March, the City of Wolverhampton Choir has organised a SING FROM SCRATCH event in aid of 'Help for Heroes'

Performed will be Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man (A Mass for Peace)

It's taking place @ St Bartholomew's Church, Penn.

Rehearsal 2pm - 5pm

Performance 7pm

Anybody is welcome to attend to sing or just to come and watch the performance

Tickets £6 for singers

£5 for performance only

£1 from each ticket will be donated to 'Help for Heroes'

Come along and bring friends to what stands to be a very enjoyable evening of music and supporting an important charity

Hope to see you all there...

Messiah Tickets

2010-12-21T21:53:00.000Z

The tickets for the cancelled Messiah concert are, we understand, being refunded by wolvescivic. We would still very much like to put on the planned performance early in the new year but there is much to rearrange and it will be a few days before we know whether this is feasible. Keep an eye on this page for further details and updates.

GROAN...snow stopped singing!

2010-12-18T13:01:00.001Z

It is with great regret that tonight's performance of Handel's Messiah has been cancelled. The event organisers at wolvescivic did not feel that conditions were safe for those that were likely to travel to St John's in the Square and given that the weather had made it quite unlikely that we would have a full complement of musicians or singers it would be better to cancel. We are in discussion with the wolvescivic team to see if there is any possibility of rescheduling for the New Year. Having worked so hard to prepare for what would have been a fantastic event we will do everything we can to see if we can get an alternative date. Any advice we receive regarding tickets will be posted here ASAP.

Once in royal David's city...

2010-12-11T19:53:00.000Z

The carol service at Darlington Street Methodist Church last Thursday evening went very well indeed. The Mayor of Wolverhampton's service is always a big part of the Christmas season for the choir and the supporting choirs from primary schools (Hill Avenue, Lanesfield and Spring Vale) in the Mayor's council ward added greatly to the occasion. The choir were a few people down because of other commitments but it didn't stop them sounding as delightful as ever. The carols were sung beautifully and had the support of a congregation that was also in good voice. The pieces from Handel's Messiah sounded wonderful in the setting and were a good run through before the 18th. We would all like to extend our gratitude to Peter Langford for playing the organ so superbly and helping everything to go so smoothly. It was especially nice to hear the bells chiming on the organ accompaniment to O come all ye faithful.

Monday has a single point of focus now with the ever nearer performance of the Messiah the highlight of the city's Christmas festivities. With a full choir performing at a level that is just excellent at the moment it will be a memorable occasion. Tickets are still available at the Midland Box Office, from the wolvescivic website or on the door. It promises to be a truly memorable performance.

Counting down!

2010-12-06T20:00:00.000Z

The choir is well and truly counting down now to the big Christmas performance of Handel's Messiah. We have the Carol Service on this Thursday at Darlington Street Methodist Church for a little light carol relief and then just a few short hours of rehearsal time left before the 18th. It promises to be a fantastic performance, join us and get your Christmas off to the best possible start!

New choir music store

2010-11-26T13:45:00.002Z

We now have a new music store (click on the Store page or the Choir music store image on the right) where you can buy works that the choir has performed (or is preparing to perform) and some things to play them on. Buying from the new store means that part of what you spend will come back to the choir and help us to keep putting on spectacular concerts. Tell your friends about it, and if they can't find what they are looking for let us know and we will see that it is added. We will be adding a page for recommendations by the choir so that everyone who looks will see the kind of music that we listen to when we aren't singing.

Remember, music makes a great gift for Christmas!

MESSIAH

2010-11-25T13:36:00.001Z

Preparations are now well under way for the Handel's Messiah concert on the 18th of December at St John's in the Square. It promises to be a fantastic evening's entertainment with the choir really on top form at the moment. Joe Cooper has everyone working really hard on getting everything just right and with the strong support of the Wolverhampton Civic Orchestra it promises to be an event that will get Christmas 2010 off to a fantastic start. Don't miss out! You can get tickets (which cost £12 or £10 concessions) from the Midland Box Office and via the wolves civic website.

YouTube Channel

2010-11-16T00:14:00.007Z

The choir YouTube Channel is now available, Click Here to access. Videos from our recent Requiem concert will be uploaded in due course. Subscribe to keep in the loop and view the latest videos.

Leave a concert review

2010-11-15T15:21:00.004Z

Hope everyone enjoyed the concert on saturday as much as I did. From what I hear, the comments on the day were excellent. To leave a comment, or review the concert, Click Here (oclassical) or Here (bachtrack).

Oclassical and bachtrack (see Links on this page) are listing our future concerts including the Messiah concert at St John's in The Square on Saturday 18th December.

Click Here for oclassical
Click Here for bachtrack

"Fantastic performance!", "Incredible choir"

2010-11-13T22:42:00.003Z

Audience feedback doesn't get any better than that.

It was a wonderful performance by the City of Wolverhampton Choir tonight at St Michael's Church. The Mayor of Wolverhampton was in attendance for a great concert with Requiems by Faure and Rutter. There were some fabulous solos by choir members and delightful performances by Abi Gillett and Beth Howells stood out.

Joe Cooper is doing a marvellous job and taking the City of Wolverhampton Choir from strength to strength. The audience comments as they departed were extremely positive and it was good to have a high turn out for such a well delivered performance. It was especially nice to see just how much the choir had enjoyed performing tonight.

No rest though, things now go into high gear for the performance of Handel's Messiah on the 18th of December as part of the city's Christmas celebrations.

Concert this Saturday!!

2010-11-09T10:38:00.000Z

This Saturday the choir will be performing Requiem. Rehearsals have been going very well and it promises to be a great performance. Tickets are available on the door but are cheaper if purchased in advance.

Don't miss it!

Musical Director Joe Cooper's view of 2009/10

2010-11-09T10:34:00.001Z

The season of 2009/10 has been a time of great excitement and expansion for the City of Wolverhampton Choir. The choir has swelled in size and even more importantly has had an influx of younger people to balance the demographic of the choir and make it a choir for people of all ages and backgrounds. Thanks must go to the new publicity campaigns that have appealed to the public of the city and brought in new talent.

The choir's standard has continually increased in terms of sight-reading and quality of tone; many of our concerts last year were met with great acclaim particularly the concert of Poulenc and Langlais that we performed in March 2010. We have used the size of our choir to our advantage in order to perform works such as Pouenc - Gloria and Britten - Rejoice in the Lamb. We are performing works that would be too big for chamber or church choir to undertake but yet too intricate for a large choral society of over a hundred people to perform. By performing works of this size we can work to a high standard and attract new members and audiences by offering them an experience they will not gain from many other choirs in the West Midlands. It has also been a good experience over the last year to work with individuals within the choir so they could perform solo roles in concerts, it is good to have a balance of giving people opportunities within the choir and also to work professional soloists and instrumentalists to give our concerts an extra flair.

New initiatives such as scratch projects have also gained us new membership as well as giving the current members of the choir a chance to perform works under intensive rehearsal situations. We also performed with our daughter choir the Wolverhampton Young Voices and tried to build on this relationship through our concert in July 2010.

We are greatly indebted to Thomas Castle who served as conducting scholar last year for his contributions to concerts and rehearsals; I look forward to working with our two new conducting scholars Harry Castle and Beth Howells in the year ahead.

It is a credit to us that we are able to undertake the great tasks of two big concerts in the next two months ahead, we have been offered a great challenge and opportunity to work closely with the Civic Hall in putting on concerts to a professional standard and involving the people of Wolverhampton. We must continue the progress we have made last year in order to meet the demands of the following concerts and create a positive working future with the Wolverhampton Council.

There have been many great achievements in the last year and I look forward to exciting times ahead with you all.

Thanks,
Joe Cooper

Whats on...check out bachtrack for details

2010-10-19T13:25:00.004+01:00

bachtrack is a fantastic music resource that is run by Alison and David Karlin. They carry a wealth of information on classical concerts, opera and ballet all over the world. The site contains reviews (some from children) and a raft of useful information. Performances by the City of Wolverhampton Choir will now be listed on bachtrack which we hope will help to publicise what we are up to to a much wider audience.

If you haven't seen the site yet then click on the image below which will take you there in a flash and show you just what is going on at Birmingham Symphony Hall as an example search. Enjoy!

Requiem AND Messiah

2010-10-19T13:01:00.002+01:00

A demanding run up to Christmas with rehearsals now covering the Requiem and Messiah programmes. It will be a challenging time for everyone but it will undoubtedly be worth all the effort. Musical Director Joe Cooper is working hard to keep everything on schedule and he looks as confident as ever.

Requiem will be performed on the 13th of November, 7.30pm at St Michael's Church on Coalway Road in Penn and the Messiah will be performed at St John's in the Square in Wolverhampton on the 18th of December, 7.30pm. Tickets from the Midland Box Office. Don't miss two great performances!

Oh, and just to add to the load the choir will also be at Darlington Street Methodist Church in Wolverhampton for the Mayor of Wolverhampton Carol Service on the 9th of December, why not come along and get into the Christmas spirit.

Welcome to new members!

2010-10-06T08:53:00.000+01:00

We have already had a number of new faces this year and more enquiries as the season progresses. The extra voices have already had quite an impact on the choir and recent rehearsals have sounded very good indeed. The Messiah performance in December will benefit enormously and will be a great show, don't miss it! 18 Dec 10, St John's in the Square, tickets available from the Midland Box Office on 0870 320 7000.

Ooops oclassical

2010-09-30T11:05:00.006+01:00

The venue for our November concert was not correct on the original posting on oclassical.com, our mistake. The concert takes place at St Michael's Church in Penn and the newly updated link is here - Requiems by Rutter & Fauré.

Whats On...Handel's Messiah

2010-09-28T13:39:00.010+01:00

The 'Messiah' Concert train is well and truly on its way to St John's in the Square. The date is set for Saturday 18th December 2010 and will be an evening not to be missed.

Handel's Messiah, City Of Wolverhampton Choir.
Handel's Messiah is one of the Christian world's most popular musical works ever. It's a sort of 18th Century musical which can be appreciated on many levels, since it contains hummable tunes, rousing choruses, virtuoso arias, many memorable moments, and deeply spiritual texts.

Tickets are now on sale from Midland Box Office click HERE for the wolvescivic 'Whats On' website or call 0870 320 7000. Tickets are priced at £12.00 & £10.00 (concs). Doors Open: 7.00pm.

New Conducting Scholars

2010-09-20T17:50:00.008+01:00

A warm welcome to the choir's two new conducting scholars Beth Howells & Harry Castle who will share the role. They take over the reins from Exeter Cathedral bound tenor, Tom Castle, who has taken on a Choral Scholarship there. We hope that Beth and Harry bring their own styles and skills to the choir and enjoy our forthcoming concert season.

oclassical now listing the choir and forthcoming concerts

2010-09-20T12:40:00.008+01:00

Concert information can now be found at http://www.oclassical.com/

Choir Page - click HERE.

Requiems by Rutter & Fauré for concert information on our November concert.

Save money with a Season Ticket

2010-09-17T18:29:00.001+01:00

We are introducing a season ticket that will cover the concerts in November 2010, April 2011 and July 2011. The tickets will shortly be available at the price of £23 or a concession price of £20. This represents a £4 reduction on the price on the door for the three concerts. Tickets will be available from the Midland Box Office or through choir members.

Requiem

2010-09-17T10:11:00.002+01:00

New Term, New Faces, New Website!!

2010-09-16T08:53:00.004+01:00

Welcome to the new 'City of Wolverhampton Choir' website...

We are always looking for ideas and suggestions how to improve it so please get in touch with any ideas...

Yours in music...

Simon

New term, new faces

2010-09-14T15:50:00.001+01:00

It's great to see so many new people this term. Any more tenors out there??

Concert this Saturday

2010-07-01T11:46:00.004+01:00

Our summer concert ("A Little Britten") is this Saturday, 3 July, at 7.30pm at Cranmer Methodist Church, Newhampton Road West. We're singing Benjamin Britten's Saint Nicolas and Rejoice in the Lamb. Tickets will be available on the door.

The muse of madness

2010-05-11T20:48:00.002+01:00

Yes, they were written by a poet 'of a strange and unbalanced mind', who was in an asylum at the time, but the words of Britten's cantata Rejoice in the Lamb are not nonsense. I particularly like the section describing musical instruments and their rhymes.

Recruiting now

2010-02-26T11:00:00.005Z

Rehearsals start again on Monday 12 April. Click on poster to enlarge

Choir Christmass Concert

2009-12-14T04:20:00.002Z

Another good evening at St. Barts for the Anticipation Concert. Mayor attended and a really warm christmasy feeling was had by all. It was nice that some of the audience took the time to give me some positive feedback and thanks. It means a lot to choir members as it takes a lot of hard work and lots of squash drinks to be as good as we are!

After the event, there was a social gathering at a local venue followed by a curry which included some spontaneous singing in latin much to the surprise of other patrons!

Well its the choir xmas holidays now but many members (including me) still have a lot more singing to do as Christmass approaches.

Our next big event is Carmina Burana and its on my birthday so make sure you get your tickets and come to hear us! :-)

fantasia on mince pies?

2009-12-14T03:43:00.004Z

once again we all had a great night out at the civic carol service. Then back to the Mayors Parlour for mince pies and warm wine and good conversation. I had a nice chat with the Mayor of Wolverhampton and the Deputy Mayor of Walsall. They thanked us for an enjoyable evening. Our conductor was a master craftsman as always and all went well for we who sing too. I understand that the service is to be broadcast on Premier Christian radio at 10pm on Christmass day as well as free view and internet.

In Anticipation of Christmas

2009-12-08T14:25:00.002Z

Christmas is coming!

Our Christmas concert is this Saturday (12 December) at 7.30 pm at St. Bart's church in Penn.

We'll be singing Fantasia on Christmas Carols (Vaughan Williams), Ave Rex (William Mathias) and lots of well-known carols. Come and listen. Come and sing.

Tickets: £8/£7; students & under 18s free

See you there!

Concert tomorrow night!

2009-11-13T19:18:00.001Z

Our Magic of Mozart concert is tomorrow night (Saturday 14 November) at 7.30pm at St. Bartholomew's Church, Church Hill, Penn.

See you there!

New choir website

2009-10-06T14:27:00.004+01:00

Our choir website has had a makeover and is back online. To see the new look, go to www.cityofwolverhamptonchoir.org.uk

Have fun with us!

2009-09-22T05:28:00.002+01:00

Ciao music lovers!

I have been with the choir a few months now and am having a great time! As well as the singing there is also a good social life to be had. All is going well for the next concert and you all should come and hear us or better still join us!..........................

regards from

Claudio

Mozart masses

2009-09-14T18:08:00.003+01:00

We're singing Mozart's Coronation Mass and Requiem this term. Rehearsals got off to a good start last week.

Rehearsals start tonight

2009-09-07T13:54:00.002+01:00

Rehearsals for our autumn concert start tonight at 7.30 pm at Cranmer Methodist Church (Newhampton Road West). According to my rehearsal plan, we are going to be singing Mozart masses (more information to follow after tonight's rehearsal when I find out which ones!) New members welcome.

Summer concert on an American theme

2009-06-30T10:41:00.002+01:00

Our Stars & Stripes concert is THIS SATURDAY. Come along for an exciting mix of Lambert, Gershwin and Bernstein. Rehearsals under Joe, our talented young conductor, are going very well. The Chichester Psalms sound fantastic (and our tenors deserve a medal for bravery).

See you at Cranmer Methodist Church (Newhampton Road West, Wolverhampton) at 7.30pm this Saturday (4 July).

Tickets £7 (£6 concessions) available from the Midland Box Office in Queen Square and on the door.

Choir website under construction

2009-06-30T10:39:00.001+01:00

The choir website is currently offline and undergoing a complete redesign. In the meantime, you can find information here.

Impressive performance

2009-04-13T16:16:00.002+01:00

The joint concert was fantastic and I have never seen such a large audience at St. John's. Jerald Smith's review in the Express & Star said the result was "most impressive".

Joint rehearsals with Wombourne Choral Society

2009-02-26T11:44:00.002Z

We had our first rehearsal with Wombourne and District Choral Society on Monday. Walking into a hall of nearly 150 singers was quite an experience and we were made very welcome.

Having been working from their musical director's (Ian Clarke's) written notes for the past few weeks, it was great to see and hear first-hand how he wants the music to sound.

The combined choirs will be performing The Creation in a joint concert on Saturday 4 April at 7.30pm at St John's-in-the-Square.

New Music Director

2009-02-15T22:01:00.002Z

Our new acting music director (as of last Monday evening) is young, dynamic and talented: Joe Cooper has been assisting Gary Cole and he conducted half of our last Christmas concert, so he knows what he's letting himself in for.

Gary is leaving to devote more time to his recording business, Regent Records (www.regent-records.co.uk). He has managed to improve the standard of singing dramatically over the past few years, yet never lost his temper - or his sense of humour.

O magnum mysterium

2008-12-15T12:42:00.000Z

We sang this piece at the civic carol service at Darlington Street Methodist Church on Thursday and it was beautiful. We were even told that we had woven a spell over the congregation!

We'll be singing it again at our concert on Tuesday, so don't miss it.

Goodbye to Peter Langford

2008-12-15T12:30:00.003Z

We said goodbye to our organist, Peter Langford, at the civic carol service last Thursday. Peter had been with the choir since 1990 and is leaving to look after his wife, Mary. He said the choir is in such good voice that he felt sorry to be going. We will miss him too.

Only 28 days to Christmas concert

2008-11-18T09:47:00.002Z

No sooner have we finished one concert, that we start preparing for the next. The first rehearsal after the autumn concert is always one of my favourites. That's when we start revising familiar Christmas carols and learning new ones.

This year our Christmas concert will be on Tuesday 16 December at St Bart's (Penn). Anyone else who needs their fix of carols before Christmas should come along - there will a chance to join in with some of the more familiar ones.

"a new-found confidence and enthusiasm"

2008-11-18T09:31:00.003Z

Concert review from the Express and Star (written by Jerald Smith):

"Celebrating its Diamond Jubilee in some style, the CWC presented an ambitious programme of mainly 20th Century choral music, demonstrating in the process the considerable progress it has made in recent years.

Opening with an impressive Jubilee Fanfare, composed by music director Gary Cole, and a rousing version of Praise my Soul, followed by Edward Bairstow's Blessed City, Heavenly Salem, where the choir caught the interesting tonal colouring and dynamics of the music, there was ample evidence that these singers have a new-found confidence and enthusiasm.

This was perhaps seen best in John Rutter's Gloria where the singers showed that a distinctive choral voice is beginning to emerge, not only in the choir as a whole, but also in each of its sections."

It's lovely to receive such a positive review, but I think the Express & Star must have been short of space. There's no mention of the Midland Brass Ensemble, who played the opening fanfare with such enthusiasm and performed some pieces on their own, as well as accompanying us - together with Nicholas Johnson on the organ. Nor is there any mention of soprano soloist Helen Johnson, nor of Fran Ambrose, who sang the baritone solos in the Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs with a beautifully warm tone. And it completely fails to mention Joe Cooper, a 19-year-old first-year student at the Conservatoire in Birmingham who acts as our assistant conductor - he conducted the Five Mystical Songs in a manner that would have done credit to someone twice his age and with far more experience.

60 years of choral singing in Wolverhampton

2008-10-22T21:03:00.005+01:00

Our concert on 15 November celebrates the choir's diamond jubilee.

The Wolverhampton Civic Choir, as we used to be known, was formed in the autumn of 1948 as part of the celebrations to mark Wolverhampton' centenary year. The choir's first concert was a performance of Handel's Messiah at the Civic Hall in December 1948. The Civic Choir would go on to peform Messiah every December until 1982! In between times though, and particularly in recent years, it has built up a challenging and diverse repertoire.

In 1993, 45 years after the choir was formed, it performed a specially commissioned work - St Luke Passion, composed by Andrew Downes of the Birmingham Conservatoire. Now, fifteen years later, we are eagerly awaiting another specially commissioned piece of music - a jubilee anthem that our own conductor, Gary Cole, has promised to write for us. Let's hope he finishes writing it in time for us to learn it!

That was fun!

2008-07-08T21:56:00.003+01:00

I thought the concert on Saturday was great fun, especially Trial by Jury. That was definitely my four-year-old's favourite. My six-year-old loved The Mermaid and has been asking me to sing it to her ever since, but since the altos didn't have any verses to sing, all I can remember is the chorus and the "tm tm's" and "popapopapoms"!

I have a sneaky feeling that there were rather more parts than there should have been in Name that Tune at the end, but the audience didn't seem to mind at all. Maybe they thought it was a cunning plan to make it harder for them to recognise all the tunes!

It's the first time we've sung at the Newhampton Arts Centre and it was lovely singing to an almost full theatre.

She may very well pass for forty-three in the dusk, with the light behind her!

2008-06-26T12:00:00.002+01:00

We sang Trial by Jury all the way through from start to finish for the first time on Monday, which meant we got to hear all the soloists' words as well, including this classic. I always knew the basses and tenors were good, but I didn't realise we had so many good solo voices. We've got a learned judge, an authoritative usher, a cheeky defendant and that's not even all of them. When they are in costume on the night it will be even better.

Young Voices concert on 9 July

2008-06-25T12:27:00.004+01:00

Wolverhampton Young Voices will be giving a concert on Wednesday 9 July at Cranmer Methodist Church, Newhampton Road at 7pm. They were fantastic last time I heard them, and they hadn't been rehearsing long, so I expect they will be even better this time.
See www.cityofwolverhamptonchoir.org.uk for programme details (under Concert Programme).

Hitting the high notes

2008-05-20T21:10:00.003+01:00

This is the altos I'm talking about. We should have realised something was up when the warm-up started a bit higher than mid-range and just kept on going up. Then we settled down to a rehearsal with just the sopranos and altos (the men were having their own rehearsal in the other room) and we altos suddenly found ourselves singing the Bridesmaids' Chorus in Trial by Jury along with the sopranos. I think the only reason we didn't grumble (well not too much, anyway) about all the top Fs was because there isn't all that much for the altos to do in Trial by Jury.
It's the sopranos who should be worried though. Now they have no excuse at all for not reaching top G and A!

New home

2008-04-27T14:27:00.002+01:00

We have been rehearsing at our new venue for four weeks now and it feels very comfortable. It's also much more central. Anyone looking for a choir to join near the city centre is very welcome to come and try us out. We have started rehearsing Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury for our summer concert on 5 July. Next term we will be singing John Rutter's Gloria and a specially commissioned piece for the choir's diamond jubilee year.

Rehearsals now take place at Cranmer Methodist Church on Newhampton Road West on Monday evenings (7.30-9.30pm)

The Power and the Glory

2008-03-17T12:25:00.003Z

That was what we put on the posters for last Saturday's concert and I thought it was very appropriate. We sang Walton's Coronation Te Deum and Handel's Messiah (parts 2 and 3). Anyone who missed it may get another chance to hear the fantastic Walton piece in November. Watch this space.

The things conductors get away with...

2008-02-27T12:14:00.009Z

"I liked the excitement; I didn't like the notes."

"The tenors were not fully unanimous there."

“Good first note, sopranos”

“I think all the notes were there, tenors – together with a few others”

“Well the first chord was good – except for the tuning, which was fairly rancid”

“Valiant effort, tenors!”

“Sopranos – a really good sound tonight. I mean, if you had just a little more confidence and were a little more in tune and had a few more people...”

“It’s absolutely impossible to be miserable when singing this – although some of you look as if you are managing to.”

“Very good, sopranos – just a bit flat and dragging a bit behind”

“It’ll do – for a rehearsal”

"That was the right note - only a quaver late."

"That was one of the most reasonable chords I've heard from you for a long time."

"It wasn't accurate, but it was enthusiastic."

Retirement at 93

2008-01-29T14:51:00.000Z

Our oldest member has decided to retire at the fantastic age of 93. If anyone deserves a rest, she does. All the best, Nell!

New year, new music, new faces

2008-01-13T21:41:00.000Z

It was nice to see everyone again on Monday, and especially nice to see two new sopranos. The sopranos were sounding really good. The basses were too (they usually do), but it turns out that most of them have sung this term's music before. Of course most people have sung Handel's Messiah at one time or another, but it's surprising how much of it seems totally unfamiliar when you come to sing it again.

Vibrant Young Voices

2007-12-18T09:26:00.000Z

We had a great turn-out for the Christmas concert, partly because we were joined by the City of Wolverhampton Young Voices - a pilot scheme for 11-18 year olds from all over Wolverhampton - and they were fantastic. The Young Voices only started meeting in September and they performed six pieces to a very high standard. They rehearse on Wednesday afternoons from 5.15 to 6.30pm at the Music School (Graisley). Anyone interested in finding out more about them should send an email to wolverhamptonyoungvoices
@googlemail.com

Christmas is coming!

2007-12-12T12:56:00.000Z

Only 3 days to go to the Christmas concert. I'm really looking forward to it - there's always a lovely atmosphere at the Christmas concert - something to do with the smell of mince pies and mulled wine, I think, and the fact that the audience gets to join in some of the carols. I don't know about you, but I NEED my annual fix of Christmas carols.

See you at 7.30pm on Saturday 15th December at St. John's-in-the-Square!

Chinese anyone?

2007-12-05T22:21:00.000Z

Well, it's the first time I've heard (let alone sung) a Chinese Christmas carol. Isn't Chinese all about tones, with different tones having different meanings? God knows what the words mean the way we sing them!

Good write-up

2007-11-25T20:39:00.001Z

The Handel & Haydn concert was very good - but you don't have to take my word for it. Here's the review by Jerald Smith that appeared in the Express & Star last Monday:

"An atmosphere of foreboding is set in the opening Kyrie with the City of Wolverhampton Choir, clearly well prepared for this event, managing to catch the drama and anguish of the uncertainties which faced Europe at the time.

"Conductor Gary Cole has worked hard with his singers and the result is a much more compact sound and tightness of ensemble, with only the cloremely [sic] able quartet of soloists - soprano Gemma Busfield, contralto Kathryn Chrimes-Morgan, tenor Roger Brotherton and baritone Paul Mocroft - all sang their parts admirably and the Wolverhampton Chamber Orchestra provided an excellent accompaniment.

"Saturday's programme began with a pair of Handel Coronation Anthems. Zadok The Priest has been sung at every coronation since 1727 and the choir performed it with enthusiasm."

Concert this Saturday

2007-11-14T19:19:00.000Z

So Saturday's the big day. Come and listen to some great music at St. John's-in-the-Square, Wolverhampton from 7.30pm. Tickets available on the door (£9, concessions £7, students and U18s free).

And if you like singing, come and talk to us afterwards - we're always happy to welcome new singers in all sections. And we won't bite! You'll be just in time to start rehearsing for the Christmas concert.

On Saturday the choir will be performing two of Handel's Coronation Anthems (Zadok the Priest and The King Shall Rejoice) and Handel's Nelson Mass. We have four talented local soloists: Gemma Busfield (Soprano) Kathryn Chrimes-Morgan (Contralto) Roger Brotherton (Tenor) and Paul Mocroft (Baritone).

And we will be accompanied by the Wolverhampton Chamber Orchestra, who will also be playing Handel's oboe concerto in G minor (soloist Victoria Brawn).

See you there!
Ros

Nelson Mass sounding great

2007-11-08T14:55:00.000Z

The Nelson Mass was sounding really good on Monday, even though half the tenors disappeared to make the teas at one point. The altos even got their top notes - and no, that still doesn't make us potential sopranos...
Ros

Who'd be a soprano?

2007-10-16T12:49:00.000+01:00

First Gary tells them they they are making a really good sound - they just need a little more confidence, need to be a little more in tune and could do with a few more people... Then Joe tells them that they've got a good vibrato, but that normally a vibrato starts on the note and goes up, whereas theirs starts on the note and goes down. Oh, and if they can't reach top G then they should be singing alto. Does that mean we altos who sometimes struggle to reach E get to join the tenors?
Maybe we should transpose all the pieces we're singing down a third.
I thought yesterday's rehearsal went very well though, and the Kyrie at the start of the Nelson Mass is sounding fantastic after Joe's work on the phrasing.
Ros

Glorious Handel

2007-09-11T13:27:00.000+01:00

How wonderful to be singing Handel again! The tenors and basses were fantastic in the two Coronation Anthems we started practising yesterday. The sopranos demonstrated how to go from rubbish to good in 60 seconds (okay, maybe 5 minutes), and the altos showed that they really are altos and not potential sopranos (we're not falling for that trick, Gary!) by failing miserably to reach top F sharp when asked to try the soprano part. Nice to have a chance to catch up with people over a glass of wine afterwards too.
Ros

Try us out!

2007-09-03T16:45:00.000+01:00

Rehearsals start on Monday 10 September with a 'try us out' evening. So if you're already a choir member and you've got a friend who'd like to have a go at singing with us, please bring them along. If you're not yet a choir member and would like to see what it's like singing with the CWC, please come along to the Penn United Reformed Church on the Penn Road at 7.20 pm.
Ros

Annual dinner

2007-07-12T14:39:00.000+01:00

There were lots of people at the choir dinner on Monday evening. Good food, good wine, good company. Madeleine and Howard were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. And we said goodbye to Laura, who goes back to Germany next month.
Hope everyone has a relaxing summer - see you again when rehearsals start in September!
Ros

Front-page news

2007-07-05T12:46:00.000+01:00

Abi's got her picture on the front page of the AdNews this week - alongside a piece entitled "Red tape brings curtain down on Dracula". Nice to see they've included information about rehearsal times and mentioned that we're looking for new members.
Ros

Red tape

2007-07-03T10:25:00.000+01:00

What a shame we've had to cancel the concert because we couldn't get an event licence in time!

I was really looking forward to the surprise 'happening' in the Horrortorio. Would have loved to see the expression on Gary's face - let alone the audience reaction. Hopefully we'll get to do it around Hallowe'en instead, which is actually a much more appropriate time of year for singing about Miss Dracula and Frankenstein.

Seems a bit OTT needing a licence to put on a choir concert.
Ros

Soloists

2007-06-26T12:19:00.000+01:00

Thought Mondays rehearsal went quite well, despite myself and john arriving a little late ! Oops ! Apologies ! We all seemd to have got a good grip of the drunken Sailor now it really sounds like it's coming together.

I think we need a sectional rehearsal for the soloists in Horrortorio though. My sight reading isn't good enough any more ! *NERVOUS GRIN*

A jar of tooth decay preserved in sage

2007-06-21T21:39:00.000+01:00

This is Gary's favourite line in the Horrortorio. It's sung first by the tenor solo and then repeated by the sopranos and altos, who are supposed to make it sound 'balletic'. It always seems to catch us unawares in the altos, but I think we got it right on Monday.
Ros

This blog

2007-06-21T21:21:00.000+01:00

The idea is for this blog to be a light-hearted diary of the choir's rehearsals, concerts and social events, updated regularly by a team of choir members. We are hoping for at least one author from each section.
Ros