Saturday 5th April 19.30 King George’s Hall, Mickleton, Gloucestershire
The Cotswold Male Voice Choir are singing a broad repertoire of eighteen songs including Unchained Melody, Love is All Around, Some Enchanted Evening, You’ll Never Walk Alone, When I Fall in Love and When The Saints Go Marchin’ In. Read the rest of this article »

Tags: concert | cotswolds | gloucester | mickleton | music | tewkesbury | gloucestershire

On Friday 25th January a Festival of Wind Band music will be held in the school hall at The Crypt School, Gloucester.  This will be the first occasion when all adult wind bands supported by Gloucestershire Music, the county’s music service, will join forces to perform.

Whilst the majority of its work supports music making in schools, Gloucestershire Music also provides opportunities for adults to learn to play instruments in the context of a wind band, jazz band or orchestra. Particularly successful has been the ”Learn as you Play” scheme, designed for complete beginners, whilst more advanced players are also catered for.

Playing in the concert will be:

The 5 Valleys Music Centre Windbands (aka Learn as You Play bands 1 and 2), two adult groups that have been in existence for over 2 and half years and for just one term, respectively, directed by Tim Cambray.

Lakeside Concert Band that has been playing for over 3 years, directed by Jennie Henley.

Colwell Arts Concert Band, the most senior band that has been in existence for over 20 years, directed Philip Cowley.

They will be playing music from a variety of sources and genres, film (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Back to the Future), song (The Green Leaves of Summer), classical (Mars - from the planets by Holst, a selection from the Nutcracker suite, Tchaikovsky) and dance (Jamaican Rumba).

For full details of Gloucestershire Music’s activities, please go to www.gloucestershiremusic.co.uk

Source: Gloucestershire County Council

Tags: gloucestershire | music | concert | education

Whether you write songs, play in a band, sing, DJ or play in a community group, and no matter what sort of music you’re into, Gloucester Music Forum want to hear from you.

If you’re aged 14-25, a musician, and based in Gloucester, then Gloucester Music Forum want to know what you’re up to and what help you need to develop. It’s easy to do - Gloucestershire College are hosting an online survey at here and there’s also a Gloucester Music Forum page on Facebook, and MySpace.

Gloucester Music Forum was formed in 2007 to support music making with young people aged 14-25. It comprises Gloucestershire Music - Gloucestershire County Council’s Music Service for young people in schools, the Guildhall Arts Centre, Wired Records, University of Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire College.

The online survey is part of the Forum’s first project, a research study to identify what kind of music young people are involved in at the moment and what resources are needed in the future.

The study focuses on Gloucester City (although it will be extended to the County shortly) and is taking into account workshops, classes, performances, recording, rehearsing and promotion, youth and community work, the recording industry, venues, community music, music education and young people-driven activities. It will feed into a wider South West Music Industry research programme being planned for this year.

Cllr Tony Hicks, Cabinet Lead for Adult Services, Gloucestershire County Council said: “This survey will helps us find out what kind of talent we have in Gloucester and enable us to find out if there’s anything else we can do to help musicians in the county.”

Source: Gloucestershire County Council

Tags: gloucestershire | music

Stratford-upon-Avon choral society’s Autumn concert is the magnificent Missa Solemnis by Beethoven on Saturday November 17th 2007 in Holy Trinity Church, Old Town, Stratford at 7.30pm.

Beethoven (1770-1827) was not a man of the church and he wrote very little music to religious texts. The Mass in D, or Missa Solemnis. was begun in 1819 (by which time he was very deaf’ and was intended for the enthronement of Beethoven’s patron the Archduke Rudolph as archbishop, in the next year. In fact it was not completed until 1823 and Beethoven seems to have worked on it with no specific event in mind. Moreover he had little apparent regard for the practicalities of performances, as the work is of a scale, both in length and in the required number of performers, that would rarely be available or appropriate to a liturgical performance of masses. For the first (incomplete) performance in Vienna in a theatre, quite different German words were used. Apart from such considerations, the work itself makes considerable demands on all the singers. The original director made protest to Beethoven on behalf of his sopranos and now I understand why!

This suggests that, even more than usual, Beethoven was writing for himself, or rather to express his own rather unconventional religious feelings. He wrote on the score ‘From the heart’ … considering it one of his best works. It is an impressive composition with rapidly changing emotions, different phrases and longer passages shaped to the meaning or the text.

Music director Stephen Dodsworth will conduct the Stratford Choral Society and the Regency Sinfonia with professional soloists: soprano Lisa Wilson, alto Alexandra Gibson, tenor David Brown and bass James Holiday. The choral society was first formed in 1836 and shares with the Huddersfield Choral Society the accolade of being one of the oldest choral societies in the country.

For Missa Solemnis concert tickets £12 (adults) or £6 (students) or further information, phone Carol Jackson on 01386 841440. Tickets also available at Civic Hall Box Office, Holy Trinity Bookstall and Stratford Music Shop, Rother St. Up to two children under 16 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Reproduced with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Tags: music | concert

The Campden and district Music Society concert on Tuesday 13th November 2007 will feature Thomas Barber, oboe and James Southall, piano.

Bristol born Thomas Barber, now only 25, gained a first class degree in medicine at Cambridge University, before studying the oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with distinction. He has been principal oboe with the National Youth Orchestra of Britain and the European Union Youth Orchestra, as well as oboist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Future Firsts’ apprenticeship scheme for 2005-6. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Thomas has performed at many music festivals, including Cheltenham, Cambridge and Banff in Canada.

The programme at Campden will include works by Poulenc, Rubbra, Bach and Schumann.

The Campden and district music society concert is honoured to be part of a special scheme, sponsored by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, which each year selects and supports a small group of exciting new young artists. This concert takes place in Chipping Carnpden School Hall, Cider Mill Lane, Chipping Campden at 8pm on Tuesday 13th November 2007. With an annual membership subscription of £40, members have free access to the season’s five concerts and may introduce a guest. Members also have opportunities to join group visits to ballet, operas and concerts at different venues. New members (£40 for five concerts, i.e. ONLY £8 PER CONCERT) are warmly welcomed. To ensure that you receive full details of membership and visits, contact Campden Music Society, c/o Treasurer, Saxfeld, Hoo Lane, Chipping Campden, GL55 6AZ or phone 01386 841520.

The Society thanks its commercial sponsors: Cutts of Campden, Cotswold House Hotel, Martin Gotrel, Andrew Greenwood and Mark Annett estate agents, Robert Welch and Graphic Print Partnership.

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Reproduced with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Tags: chipping campden | music | concert

Saturday 24 November 2007, 7 pm, St Peter’s Church, Winchcombe,Gloucestershire

Not everyone knows that Winchcombeshire was an entirely separate county from Gloucestershire for ten years. Following its distinguished history as capital of the Mercian Kingdom and then as a Saxon burgh, Winchcombe became capital of its own shire when it was created in the year AD 1007 by King Aethelred as part of the five shires of Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Winchcombeshire - all areas of similar size and wealth, easy for administration in those days when revenue went to the king. Winchcombeshire covered 139 parishes of which the boundaries were nearly the same then as those today. Chipping Campden parish, part of an historic Hundred was in Winchcombeshire. It was absorbed by Gloucestershire in 1017 when the new king, King Canute, who had become king after the 1016 Treaty of Deerhurst, was upset by the local ruler, Eadric Streona who was thought to be plotting against the new king.

On the basis ‘History Matters’, a small group of volunteers from Winchcombe has promoted a number of commemorative events.

DAVID BRIGGS (organ) Organist Emeritus to Gloucester Cathedral is now a well-known International Concert Organist and Composer. He lives in the USA but travels widely. He specialises in improvising on a given theme.

PETER MEDLAND (trumpet) has a love of jazz and blues as well as orchestral trumpet work.

The music played will largely be associated with the five shires, including Holst, Elgar, Brewer, Walton. David will improvise to a given theme. A view of the organ console will be projected. Not all seats will have a view of the screen.

Tickets and booking details:

Reserved £12 and £10, Unreserved £8 (Students in full time education £6, unreserved).

Available from: St Peter’s Centre, Gloucester Street, Winchcombe, GL54 5LU. Tel: 01242 602067. If posting, mark your envelope ‘Concert’, enclose a SAE and a cheque made payable to ‘The Friends of St Peter’s Church’.

Any profits will go towards the restoration of the Chime machine built in 1705 by Thos. Staite in St Peter’s Church, Winchcombe

Tags: winchcombe | music | chipping campden | church | gloucestershire | concert

Friday 26th October - Monday 29th October Gloucester Docks

The first Gloucester Tall Ships Festival will have four tall ships sailing up The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, following the historic trading route to Gloucester,� on� Friday 26th October to join The Johanna Lucretia in the Docks� to open the Festival.

The Tall Ships are scheduled to arrive between 11.15 and 12.45 but all times are subject to change.
During the Festival exciting events and attractions will be happening on the Docks giveing everyone a weekend of unforgettable sights and sounds showing how Gloucester could have looked over 100 years ago.
Saturday evening will host a stunning light show of the ships sails and rigging which will accompany live music on the Docks.

On Sunday visitors can wander around the Docks and appreciate these beautiful tall ships in their natural environment and in Britain’s most inland port.

On Monday you can witness the departure of these amazing seagoing craft from Gloucester Docks.
Details of the Tall Ships that will be in the Docks is as follows:-

The Earl of Pembroke -� a three-masted wooden barque built in Sweden in 1948. She traded timber in the Baltic and British East Coast until being laid up in Denmark in 1974. In 1985 she underwent a complete restoration programme.
Phoenix - a Danish brigantine built in Denmark in 1929 as an Evangelical Mission Schooner. She retired from Missionary work 20 years later and carried cargo until she was damaged by fire. In 1988 she sailed to the UK where she underwent a complete refit.
Ruth - a 28 metre schooner built in 1914 for trade in the Baltic built in the Rää Shipyard Sweden in 1914. A traditional gaff-rigged ketch, she was baptised Ruth, by the owner Sven Petter Persson, after his wife. Her main cargo at the time was ceramic pots and stoneware, delivering for a famous Swedish company called Höganas.
Kathleen & May - the last remaing three masted schooner which is a type of trading vessel that would have been common in Gloucester Docks 100 years ago. She has been in Gloucester before in derelict form but now she returns restored to her former glory.� She was launched in 1900 at Bideford, Devon and was used on trade routes in British and Irish waters. She made her last commercial visit to Gloucester 62 years ago on September 29th 1945 delivering fuel and loading up wheat for a trip to Barry. Over a period of 30 years she made over 150 passages up the river Severn bound for Lydney, Sharpness and Gloucester.
The Johanna Lucretia� � � � - a topsail schooner built in 1945 in Belgium as a fishing vessel. She was converted for recreational use in 1954 and was based in the Netherlands for 35 years.In 1989 she was bought by British owners and fully refitted in 1992 to become a cruising boat.

Gloucester Tourist Information Centre
28 Southgate Street
Gloucester
GL1 2DP
Telephone 01452 396572
www.gloucestertallships.co.uk�

Tags: festivals | music | ships | gloucester

The Campden and District Music Society launches its 47th season on Tuesday 9th October 2007 with a concert by the Fitzwilliam string quartet. Lucy Russell, Jonathan Sparey, Alan George and Andrew Skidmore founded the group in 1968 when they were Cambridge undergraduates and became well known through their close association with Dmitry Shostakovich, who entrusted them with the Western premieres of his last three quartets. With a busy concert programme across the world, many recordings and international awards, Campden Music Society is delighted to have them launch their concert series. They will be joined by another well known musician, the principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra, Moray Welsh, whom some will have seen at the Campden music festival in May. Moray studied cello under Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatoire and has enjoyed a long music career of solo performances, recordings and teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music for 18 years.

The concert opens with a short work, “More Fools than Wise” by Jonathan Rathbone who was musical director and arranger for the Swingle Singers for twelve years. It is inspired by the words and music of the seventeenth century composer Orlando Gibbons’s madrigal “The Silver Swan”, which tells how a swan, having been silent all her life, reportedly sings most beautifully just before she dies. The title comes from the last line - “More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise.” - a line particularly important to Rathbone, as it expresses a dilemma in music today. Borodin’s 2nd string quartet in D, written between 1881 and his death in 1887 is one of the most beloved works in the entire quartet literature. Written on a summer holiday and dedicated to his wife, this tuneful work exudes contentment. Some of its glorious melodies were made even more popular over sixty years later as songs in the Broadway musical “Kismet”. The concert ends with the string quintet D.956 in C major of Schubert, written in 1828 with two cellos, just one of many astonishing compositions dating from the composer’s final months. Every moment in this, his last and greatest chamber work, completed only seven weeks before his death, is magnificent in its tragic beauty.

This not-to-be-missed concert takes place in Chipping Campden School Hall, Cider Mill Lane. Chipping Campden at 8pm on Tuesday 9th October. With an annual membership subscription of £40, members have free access to the season’s five concerts and may introduce a guest. Members also have opportunities to join group visits to ballet, operas and concerts at different venues and bookings for these have now opened. New members (£40 for five concerts, i.e. ONLY £8 PER CONCERT) are warmly welcomed. To ensure that you receive full details of membership, contact Campden Music Society, c/o Treasurer, Saxfeld, Hoo Lane, Chipping Campden, GL55 6AZ or phone 01386 841520.

The Society thanks its commercial sponsors: Cutts of Campden, Cotswold House Hotel, Martin Gotrel, Andrew Greenwood, Robert Welch, Mark Annett Estate Agents and Graphic Print Partnership.

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. included with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Tags: chipping campden | music | festivals

The Campden and District Music Society’s 47th season will start with a concert on Tuesday 9th October 2007 with the Fitzwilliam string quartet and Moray Welsh, cello. They will play music by Borodin and Schubert.

On Tuesday 13th November 2007 Thomas Barber, oboe and James Southall, piano will give the recital, sponsored by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, which supports exciting new young artists.

The Feinstein Ensemble will launch 2008 with a concert on Tuesday 8th January using both modern and period instruments, flute, recorder, harpsichord and strings with music by Bach and Vivaldi.

On Tuesday 5th February 2008 the Kandinsky piano trio will play music by Haydn, Schumann and Beethoven.

The final concert of the season on Tuesday 18th March 2008 is the Wakeford Ensemble Septet, seven players with harp, string quartet, flute and clarinet and music by Mozart, Debussy, Skempton, Saint-Saens and Ravel.

All concerts take place in Chipping Campden School Hall, Cider Mill Lane, Chipping Campden at 8pm. Members also have opportunities to join group visits to ballet, operas and concerts at different venues. Bookings for these will open very soon, so your membership is necessary to participate and attend concerts. New members are welcomed.

Campden and District Music Society Website

(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. Included with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Tags: chipping campden | music

President Paul Lewis
Principal sponsor of the 2007 festival - Jackson Stops & Staff. Steinway piano sponsored by Cutts of Campden.

I am delighted to report that the 2007 festival was another great success. Ticket sales were well up on 2006 and although fees were also considerably higher than last year we have finished up with a surplus to carry forward to 2008. As always our performers seemed to love both the venue and the atmosphere the festival generates. The following are just some of the comments we received from this year’s artists:

“To play to such an enthusiastic and concentrated capacity crowd was quite a compliment and I am most grateful for all you did… my warmest gratitude for another totally enjoyable visit to your superb Festival - long may it last and prosper. You have turned it into a remarkable success story!” John Lill.

“I saw the orchestra today at their Colin Davis rehearsals, and they were all saying how much they enjoyed last night, and what a fabulous venue the church is! Charlotte also reported that you and your team were wonderfully helpful and hospitable. Many thanks for the invitation and for being so great to work with” Pauline Gilberton director English Chamber Orchestra.

“The best venue we have ever played in in the UK” Igor Naidfn - viola player of the Borodin quartet.

“Thanks so much again - the concert on Friday was fantastic and the orchestra were very glad to have a concert in such a beautiful setting, and much closer to home after five months of non-stop touring!” Tara Persaud concerts manager Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

I would like to thank everyone who became a ‘Patron’, ‘Friend’ or ‘Sponsor’ this year, without whose help the festival would not survive. There are too many to name everyone but the following deserve a particular mention; Jackson Stops & Staff for, once again, being our principal sponsor. Cutts of Campden for sponsoring the Steinway piano for the 6th year. Cotswold House Hotel for sponsoring, for the fourth year, the jazz supper.

I would also like to thank everyone who helped in any way with the day to day running of the event. Again there is not room to mention everyone but the following worked particularly hard; Richard Stephens, Ivor & Jean Owen, Arthur & Rachel Cunyghame, Micaela Schmitz, Jessica May. Finally thank you to Campden Bowling club and to W.R. Haines & Sons for allowing us to display the large advertising boards on their properties and Jeremy Green for all the advertising in his Bulletin. Next year’s festival will run from Tuesday 13th - Saturday 24th May. Details will be published in November 2007.

Before then we have two ‘one off concerts both in St. James’ church at 7.30pm The Coronation of Poppea Saturday September 22nd - tickets £10 adults £5 students - on the door only. A fully staged production of the opera with professional orchestra and advanced singers from the top UK colleges.

Paul Lewis Saturday Dec 1st 7.30pm. Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas op109/110/111. This will be the final time Paul plays this programme in the UK

Booking forms will be sent to everyone on the festival database in July. Box office opens August 1st.
(From the Chipping Campden Bulletin. included with kind permission of Jeremy Green)

Tags: chipping campden | festivals | music