1 February 2019
A group of Chorus members are off to Germany to sing Messiah with the choir of Sheffield’s twin town, Bochum. The group will gather in Bochum on Monday 4 February for a series of rehearsals with the Philharmonischer Chor Bochum, accompanied by the Bochumer Symphoniker conducted by John Lidfors. ‘We know Messiah very well, and it will be sung in English so no problem there’ said Chorus Chair Paul Henstridge, ‘ but the Bochum choir are perfectionists and we need to know exactly how the conductor wants it to sound, so we will have three big rehearsals in the week of the concert’
Many of the Sheffield Chorus members are staying with colleagues from the Bochum choir, and are looking forward to re-kindling friendships made on a previous trip to Bochum. The concert will take place in the brand new Anneliese Brost Music Forum Ruhr, which was completed in 2016 after 15 years of fundraising which attracted over 20,000 donors. The orchestra are determined to develop this into a ‘place of adventure, education and enjoyment’, and the Forum’s three venues will certainly help.
It won’t all be singing though – the Sheffield visitors are being treated to trips to Bonn and Essen – as well as a number of hostelries and a big party before they return home. ‘The Bochum choir and orchestra will work us hard but they’ve also planned a lot of fun activities’ said Graham Dawson, who has organised the trip at the Sheffield end, ‘It looks to be an action packed week – we’ll probably need a good rest when we get back!’
Chorus members visited Perigeux in France last year, and members of both the French and German choirs will be coming to Sheffield to sing Messiah with the Black Dyke Band in the City Hall in June 2020.