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.
Rachel Copley, President of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours, for services to music charities and the community in South Yorkshire. “We could not be more thrilled and proud,” said Chorus Chairman Paul Henstridge. “We’ve always known she was a wonderful lady but it’s marvellous that she has been recognised by such a prestigious national award”.
Rachel Copley BEM
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus has benefitted from Rachel’s musical and leadership skills for many years. She has sung with the Chorus for 46 years, been part of and led the committee, and turned her hand to so many ‘smaller’ tasks that simply would not have taken place without her intervention. Current Chorus Administrator Anne Adams could not sing her praises highly enough (excuse the pun!) “Rachel has always been willing to step in to help if we have needed a leader at short notice, or to make someone’s day special – be that a wedding, the Meadowhall lights switch on, the annual Service of Remembrance for St Luke’s Hospice, or leading thousands singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ for Cancer Research UK. And of course, that’s only what she does for us! She really is phenomenal and this award could not have been more deserved.”
Rachel said “I’m absolutely thrilled! I feel very honoured to have this acknowledgment of something that is as close to my heart as music, in all its forms.”
Rachel was interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield on New Year’s Day morning at 10.00 to 10.30.
6 December 2018 – Philip Andrews Sheffield Telegraph
On 30 November the Czech National Symphony Orchestra performed to one of the City Hall’s biggest audiences for a long time.
‘Many of them wisely stayed on for another of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus’ excellent ‘after hours’ concerts – short programmes of unaccompanied pieces which show the choir off to their best advantage.
Under conductor Darius Battiwalla, tight and effective control of balance and dynamics were again to the fore in a fascinating programme of rarely-heard pieces by composers all influenced by Wagner.’
In 2018 the Chorus recorded Paul Mealor’s beautiful new work Paradise with the world-famous Black Dyke Band in Sheffield’s own City Hall. The recording has now been published as part of the Black Dyke Gold series – and composer Paul Mealor is thrilled with it. ‘I am VERY impressed.’ said Paul on first hearing the CD. ‘It is a fantastic recording of the work. The second movement is exactly as I imagined it and the choir are simply outstanding in their sections.’
Paradise features two elements sung by the Chorus alongside the band, sandwiching a central section of fiendish difficulty that the band use to showcase their virtuosity. The Chorus first sang Paradise with Black Dyke Band in January 2018 at the annual Brass Band Festival held each year at the Royal Northern School of Music in Manchester.
‘The ending really is incredibly dramatic.’ enthused Paul. ‘Thank you very much indeed for all your hard work on this. Very much appreciated.’
Paul Mealor first sprang to fame in 2011 when his Ubi Caritas was featured at the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince William to Catherine Middleton, now TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. Born in North Wales in 1975, Paul studied composition privately as a boy and then at the University of York and in Copenhagen. His music has been commissioned and performed at many festivals and by numerous orchestras and choruses and has been broadcast on TV and radio throughout the world.
Other works on this fabulous CD include Gounod’s beautiful Ave Maria and Sousa’s rousing Liberty Belle. Purchase your copy of Black Dyke Gold Volume VII on the Black Dyke Band website.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus are planning to sing this fabulous piece again on Sunday 9 June 2019, when they will be joined by the Black Dyke Band, Halifax Choral Society, the Yorkshire Youth Choir and four great soloists for a very special concert at 3pm in the City Hall.
As well as Paradise, the programme will feature Yorkshire composer Philip Wilby’s new oratorio for brass, voices and organ, The Holy Face. This musical retelling of the life of St John was commissioned by Halifax Choral Society and their conductor John Pryce-Jones to celebrate their 200th Anniversary, premiered in Halifax in October 2017 and was subsequently recorded by the artists who will present it at the City Hall in June 2019. Copies of the CD are available from Halifax Choral Society, priced £15.
Paul Mealor is very pleased that his Paradise will be sung again, this time in Sheffield, and is hoping to be able to attend. For further details about this very special concert, see Current Season.
In 1911 Sheffield Musical Union, the choir that became the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, went on a remarkable world tour with a number of other Yorkshire choirs, covering 34,000 miles and giving 134 concerts in Canada, The United States, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and South Africa.
This unique event is documented in a new book by Dr. Christopher Wiltshire using letters written by young soprano May Midgley to her family back in England. The book ‘12 Oak Avenue – the letters of May Midgely 1911‘ is featured in a special three-page article in the Yorkshire Post 28 July 2018
May’s lively, action-packed letters have only recently been discovered, and they throw a new light on this unique and exciting event. Her first letter, written in March 1911 after docking in Canada, gives a flavour of May’s down-to-earth account of this unique event:
“On Saturday morning nearly everybody was ill… Miss Jowett has been the worst in our cabin, she has been awfully bad… Mrs Bell looks just like a corpse… Isabel crawls about just like a little old woman… Hilda and I simply daren’t get up, the boat rocked so – we heard terrible crashes of crockery…”
May was obviously highly valued by the choir’s conductor, Henry Coward, and her letters provide an irreplaceable window on the tour that are as unique as the event itself.
Check out Buy Our Recordings and Books if you would like to buy a copy of this fascinating account of a truly unique event.
In 2018 the Chorus recorded Paul Mealor’s beautiful new work Paradise with the world-famous Black Dyke Band in Sheffield’s own City Hall. The recording has now been published as part of the Black Dyke Gold series – and composer Paul Mealor is thrilled with it. ‘I am VERY impressed.’ said Paul on first hearing the CD. ‘It is a fantastic recording of the work. The second movement is exactly as I imagined it and the choir are simply outstanding in their sections.’
Paradise features two elements sung by the Chorus alongside the band, sandwiching a central section of fiendish difficulty that the band use to showcase their virtuosity. The Chorus first sang Paradise with Black Dyke Band in January 2018 at the annual Brass Band Festival held each year at the Royal Northern School of Music in Manchester.
‘The ending really is incredibly dramatic.’ enthused Paul. ‘Thank you very much indeed for all your hard work on this. Very much appreciated.’
Paul Mealor first sprang to fame in 2011 when his Ubi Caritas was featured at the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince William to Catherine Middleton, now TRH The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. Born in North Wales in 1975, Paul studied composition privately as a boy and then at the University of York and in Copenhagen. His music has been commissioned and performed at many festivals and by numerous orchestras and choruses and has been broadcast on TV and radio throughout the world.
Other works on this fabulous CD include Gounod’s beautiful Ave Maria and Sousa’s rousing Liberty Belle. Purchase your copy of Black Dyke Gold Volume VII on the Black Dyke Band website.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus are planning to sing this fabulous piece again on Sunday 9 June 2019, when they will be joined by the Black Dyke Band, Halifax Choral Society, the Yorkshire Youth Choir and four great soloists for a very special concert at 3pm in the City Hall.
As well as Paradise, the programme will feature Yorkshire composer Philip Wilby’s new oratorio for brass, voices and organ, The Holy Face. This musical retelling of the life of St John was commissioned by Halifax Choral Society and their conductor John Pryce-Jones to celebrate their 200th Anniversary, premiered in Halifax in October 2017 and was subsequently recorded by the artists who will present it at the City Hall in June 2019. Copies of the CD are available from Halifax Choral Society, priced £15.
Paul Mealor is very pleased that his Paradise will be sung again, this time in Sheffield, and is hoping to be able to attend. For further details about this very special concert, see Current Season.
Having recently taken up the post as Chief Conductor, Markus Poschner directed the Bruckner Orchester Linz in an invigorating performance of Mahler’s sensational second symphony, Resurrection, at the Usher Hall on Sunday afternoon. Opening with a rustic, golden hued timbre, the orchestra gave an animated interpretation of the work. Though some of the music’s finer details may have been slightly muddied, the warmth of tone and spirited playing was perfectly fitting for the piece.
Poschner was calm and collected on the podium, and the passionate surges the orchestra produced belied his cool demeanour. Ramping up the tempo with a sure, steady beat, the accelerando towards the middle of the first movement was wild and exciting, before the movement concluded with a frenzied descending cascade of strings.
Mahler employs a lot of interesting instrumental techniques in this symphony. Strings were played col legno, the players hitting the instruments with the back of their bow to sound like galloping horses, to being turned on their sides and plucked like guitars, and a quartet of off-stage horns pealed out from a distance, before joining their section for the triumphant finale. The massive number of timpani on stage was put to good use too, with thundering, rousing rolls.
Filling the organ gallery, the combined choruses of Leeds Philharmonic Chorus and Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus opened with a soft yet supported sound and displayed a majestic power for the final bars, Alto soloist Theresa Kronthaler sang with a gorgeous tone. Her voice is rich, rounded and deep but not at all heavy, and was a perfect match with Brigitte Geller’s honeyed soprano.
This was an uplifting performance, one which had inherent joy, and gave a profound context to Mahler’s life-affirming music.
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Sheffield City Hall
We usually hear the Phil alongside an orchestra in the wide open spaces of the Oval Hall, but they have recently begun performing in the more intimate surroundings of the City Hall ballroom with minimal instrumental accompaniment, and it works very well.
This rousing performance of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle was their most enjoyable for a long time, for both performers and audience.
The setting of the Latin Mass comes as a pleasant surprise for those who have not heard it before. It is neither small nor solemn, but instead an almost jaunty extension of the opera composer’s day job – dramatic, joyful, strident and tuneful.
And the relatively small ballroom, deep in the bowels of the City Hall, brought the audience up close and personal with the choir, their outstanding quartet of soloists, and the accompanists Nigel Gyte (piano) and acclaimed organist Jonathan Scott, on this occasion playing the harmonium.
As ever, the chorus was admirably clear, sharp, balanced and dynamically controlled under conductor Darius Battiwalla, and the soloists – three of them near the start of their careers – were impressive individually and as a quartet. Charlotte La Thrope (soprano), Richard Rowe (tenor) and Charles Murray (bass) made confident and focused contributions, and the more experienced contralto Margaret McDonald brought the evening to a moving and heartfelt conclusion in the closing Agnus Dei.
Forty-five members of the Chorus were in France at the height of World Cup fever, but not watching the final – they were in a Cathedral in the Dordogne, singing with two French choirs, an orchestra, two organs and an array of brass musicians. The occasion was a special concert held in Perigueux cathedral to celebrate both the end of WW1 and Bastille Day. The work was ‘Le Messe de la Délivrance ‘ by François-Clément Théodore Dubois, commissioned to celebrate the end of WW1, and it was sung by local choirs L’ensemble Vocal de Périgueux and L’ensemble vocal Arnault de Mareuil as well as the visitors from Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and other choristers from around Perigueux. A special trumpet fanfare was written for the occasion, and this, the large orchestra with extra brass players and not one but two organs, one played by Chorus Music Director Darius Battiwalla, made for an unforgettable sound that echoed around the cathedral long after the final bars were over.
The five day trip, organised by bass Matthew Morgan, also involved two concerts given by the Chorus on their own, singing works by Parry, Stanford and Tippett, Arvo Part, Rachmaninoff, Esenvalds and Saint-Saens. Conductor Darius Battiwalla willingly agreed to play in these two concerts, attracted by the organs in the churches concerned, L’Eglise de Excideuil and in St Astier.
The Chorus members were provided with accommodation by members of the French choirs and had a wonderful time, especially on the Saturday evening when Bastille Day was celebrated with a special party hosted by the French choirs, followed by a huge firework display on the banks of the river and all-night dancing in the squares around Perigueux. The special concert on Sunday was of course followed by World Cup celebrations all around the city that lasted well into the night.
‘ Everyone had a wonderful time’ said Chorus Chair Paul Henstridge. ‘Our thanks to Matthew for all his hard work, to Darius for giving his time and skills to make the trip such a success, and to the French choir members who generously put up members of the Chorus in their own homes. Several members have asked whether we could make this an annual event – a testimony to how much we all enjoyed ourselves.’
Fifty members of the Chorus are busy preparing to join with French choirs L’ensemble Vocal de Périgueux and L’ensemble vocal Arnault de Mareuil, to sing ‘Le Messe de la Délivrance ‘ by François-Clément Théodore Dubois, a piece commissioned to commemorate WW1, in the Cathedral at Perigueux on Sunday 15 July 2018. Performed for the first time in 1919 in the city of Orléans, the Messe de la Délivrance celebrates the return to peace after the retreat of German troops from France at the end of World War I. It is also an ode to Joan of Arc, who delivered Orléans and was canonized in 1915.
The five day trip, organised by bass Matthew Morgan, also involves two concerts given by the Chorus on their own, singing works by Parry, Stanford and Tippett, Arvo Part, Rachmaninoff, Esenvalds and Saint-Saens. Conductor Darius Battiwalla has willingly agreed to play in these two concerts, attracted by the organs in the churches concerned, L’Eglise de Excideuil and St Astier, both in the Dordogne region of France. ‘Everyone is excited about this mini tour, our first venture abroad for quite some time’ said Matthew, ‘The French choirs are really thrilled that we are joining them to sing in this special concert to commemorate WW1, and tickets for our own concerts are selling well.’
The Chorus have been rehearsing every Tuesday since their season ended with the fabulous Rossini concert in the City Hall ballroom early in June – including a penultimate rehearsal on Tuesday 3 July, testing loyalties to the full given the clash with a certain football match that evening!
