Bookham Choral Society

Last Autumn was a busy period for our society and full of great music. During these months Martin Seymour led us very successfully through three concerts. We had eleven weeks of intensive rehearsal learning Mozart’s Requiem. While very familiar to choirs and audiences alike this work is not to be dismissed with comments such as “I know that, I’ve sung it many times”! It remains core repertoire but is always a challenge to sing but contains some sublime Mozartian moments. So it was with some nervous excitement on 19th November that we assembled with Dorking Chamber Orchestra in St Martin’s Church, Dorking for a joint concert.

Opening the evening the choir sang Peteris Vasks ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ with string accompaniment. In the composer’s own words this is ‘food for the soul’ and reflects his deeply personal style with slow moving atmospheric writing for voices accompanied by dissonant harmonic writing for strings. It was a challenge to sing requiring careful counting and breath control.  Dorking Chamber Orchestra, lead by Sara Stagg, excelled themselves in filling St Martin’s church with Schubert’s wonderful scoring with the long-breathed melodies and frenzied development of the first movement followed by the alternating soft and loud passages of the second. It was a treat!  The challenge for the full orchestra and choir of performing together in the Mozart was made easier by compact tiered seating for the choir which brought them closer to the conductor and by the excellent acoustics of the church. The accomplished singing of the soloists Olwen Turchetta, Julia Hollander, Panos Ntourntoufis and Andrew Stafford was warmly appreciated. Martin Seymour’s skill brought all the elements together and a fine performance of the Requiem was given to a large and appreciative audience.

Keith Willis, to whose memory this concert was dedicated, would have been proud of the choral society and the orchestra he nurtured and conducted for so many years. We look forward eagerly to a future joint DCO/BCS concert. Watch this space!
The rehearsal schedule for the Mozart concert was generous, not so for our Carol Concerts in Bookham. We had just four weeks to produce a varied programme of six carols with audience plus learn or polish up ten carols for choir. Heads down or rather up and watch the conductor! On 16th and 17th December we sang to full audiences in the Old Barn Hall and St Nicolas Church respectively. Our able accompanist Gina Eason played piano and we were pleased to welcome Pentowan Brass to accompany audience carols and to provide a selection of tuneful carols, songs and some amusing anecdotes in their own programme slots. The retiring collections raised an amazing £758 shared between the Leatherhead Clubhouse and Surrey Air Ambulance. People in Bookham often say that for them Christmas starts with the BCS Carol Concerts. We hope this feeling will continue. The society performs these concerts with much pleasure and with gratitude to our very loyal and generous audiences.

Our 2012 Leith Hill Musical Festival main work is Brahms’ Requiem to be sung in English at Dorking Halls on Friday 13th April at 7.30pm. Do buy your tickets early and come and support your local music festival. Other festival concerts feature Karl Jenkins Gloria, Fauré Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria and Handel Sing unto God. Quite a musical banquet!

If  this report encourages you to think about joining a choir then come and see us any Tuesday at 7.45pm at Keswick Road Church (URC) or contact our secretary Janet Kay on 01372 813102. Our annual choir diary also includes a New Year Party, a coffee morning (3rd March 2012, 10am-12noon, Old Barn Hall) and a dinner so membership includes a mixture of fun and note-learning.

Cathy Green