Reply to Jos Gregson,
18 Willoughby Close,
Alveston,
Bristol BS35 3RW
Tel: 01454-411652
Email: josgregson@gmail.com
2nd March 2024
Dear Singer,
This is being sent to you as you have either sung with the South Cotswold Big Sing Group before or have signed up for our April Workshop on Holst’s Hymn of Jesus and Poulenc’s Gloria with the possible intention of singing in the July performance of these works.
BOOKING FOR THE APRIL 20th WORKSHOP
Bookings may be made by accessing the South Cotswold Big Sing Group website at www.bigsing.org and downloading the booking form. If you are a member of Bristol, Gloucester, Stroud, Thornbury or Wycliffe Choral Societies and require scores these will be handed out by either Adrian Partington, Steven Kings or choir representatives. Otherwise they will be posted to you.
CRYPT SCHOOL APRIL 20th 2024 WORKSHOP
This will take place at The Crypt School, Podsmead Road, Gloucester GL2 5AE and will run from 10am-4pm. We will be rehearsing both works as well as the Messiaen “O sacrum convivium”, see the note below.
Teas, coffees and biscuits will be served in the morning. Please bring your own lunch. There will be no afternoon tea break.
Timetable:-
9.30am: Arrival and registration
10am-11am First rehearsal
11am-11.30am Coffee break
11.30am-1.00pm second rehearsal
1.00pm -2.00pm lunch break. PLEASE BRING A PACKED LUNCH.
2.00pm-4.00pm third rehearsal
CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL CONCERT 2024
The date for this will be Friday July 12th 2024 in the evening. Usually our concerts are on a Saturday with our rehearsal to sort out the seating plan on the Friday. We have the Cathedral booked for Thursday July 11th 2024 so that we can do this. The performance will be accompanied by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Adrian Partington.
ADDITIONAL WORK
In addition to the Holst and the Poulenc the choir will sing Olivier Messiaen’s “O sacrum convivium”. Scores for the Messiaen will be handed out at the Workshop and there will be no additional charge for these scores. The orchestra will also play Vaughan Williams’ “Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus”.
SCORES
A reminder that you may keep your score/scores between the Workshop and the June/July rehearsals and performance with no charge for the second hiring. If you only do the performance there will be the normal charge of £2 per score, again with no charge for the Messiaen.
SOUTH COTSWOLD BIG SING GROUP CONCERT 2025
The Cheltenham Festival have asked us to move our planned June 2025 concert to July 2025 and make it part of the 2025 Cheltenham Music Festival. This will be on Saturday 5th July 2025. This is helpful as it means that we will be using the Cheltenham Festival’s publicity and ticketing facilities.
This concert will be accompanied by the British Sinfonietta and conducted by Adrian Partington.
The full programme will be as follows:-
Messe des pȇcheurs de Villerville by Gabriel Fauré and André Messager – for women’s voices.
Alto Rhapsody by Johannes Brahms for men’s voices.
Te Deum by Hector Berlioz.
There is a full rehearsal schedule on the website, Choir 1 comprises singers south of Stroud and will rehearse in Alveston, Choir 2 consists of singers from Stroud and north and will rehearse in Stonehouse. Joint rehearsals for both choirs are either at The Crypt School, Gloucester, Christ Church, Cheltenham, St John’s Northgate, Gloucester or in Gloucester Cathedral.
BUS
There will be a bus from Thornbury to Gloucester for the Workshop on 20th April. This will leave from outside Aldi at 08.45 and return from The Crypt School at 16.15. Tickets will cost £15 and can be obtained from Jos Gregson (email jos@josgregson@gmail.com, tel. 01454-411652)
SINGING NUMBERS
Choir numbers will be limited to 150 by the organisers so as to comfortably accommodate the choir. The Holst is written for three choirs, the third choir will consist of Gloucester Cathedral choristers and these will be seated separately. There will be a small group of six lay clerks who will be accommodated among the main choirs so that we will only have space for a maximum of 144 singers.
WEBSITE
The new website is now up and running, the address is www.bigsing.org. There have been a few minor teething problems but Mike Elcock has worked very hard over the summer and autumn to integrate the old database and we now have the system running to Mike’s satisfaction. The website is always kept up to date, so please refer to it for the latest news and events.
Jos Gregson
Chairman South Cotswold Big Sing Group
www.bigsing.org
Please do not reply to this email. If you want to unsubscribe from our emails, please email webmaster@bigsing.org.
|
|
