Reading Festival Chorus

Last updated

Reading Festival Chorus is a chorus which was formed in 1945 to give performances of larger scale choral works. It is based in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings in central Reading (RG1 4BW) and new members are always welcomed.

The Chorus appointed Greg Hallam as its Musical Director in 2018, and its patron is the pianist John Lill.

The Chorus is twinned with the Johanneskantorei of Düsseldorf, Germany, with whom they performed Handel's Messiah in October 2015 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chorus.

The chorus sings a diverse programme of classical music programme, with works such as Mozart's Requiem, Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man in 2005 to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and a summer programme of English and American Folksongs by Tippett and Aaron Copland.

Their 2014-15 Season comprised the Brahms Deutsches Requiem; Haydn, Mass in a Time of War and Parry, Songs of Farewell; Elgar's Music Makers and Chilcott, Aesop's Fables. In 2016-17 they performed a concert of Mozart at Douai Abbey, (including Mozart Solemn Vespers), Judas Maccabeus by Handel on 8 April 2017, and Rutter Requiem and The Mass of the Martyrs by their then-Musical Director Edward-Rhys Harry on 1 July 2017.

The 2017/18 Season included: Bach, Christmas Oratorio and Saint-Saens, Oratorio de Noel (December 2017); a programme of European and American choral classics with their interim Musical Director, Andrew Haase (24 March 2018); and Schubert, Mass in G, Handel, Dixit Dominus with Greg Hallam (14 July 2018).

The 2019 programme included Lenten Reflections (a seasonal programme including Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm and Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri) on 23 March and Verdi's Requiem (sung with RFC's twin choir, the Johanneskantorei Düsseldorf on 22 June in the Great Hall of the University of Reading, and again in the Johanneskirche, Düsseldorf on 21 September 2019). [1] [2]

The 2019/20 season opened at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton, Berkshire, on 30 November, with a concert of Advent music, entitled 'A Spotless Rose'. It was to have been followed by a programme including music by Rheinberger and the two-piano version of the Brahms Requiem at Leighton Park School in March 2021 and a programme of Shakespeare Songs and Sonnets in the summer term, but these concerts were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chorus began its 2021/22 season on 27 November 2021 with a performance in St Laurence's Church, Reading including Haydn's 'Little Organ Mass' and Vivaldi's 'Gloria' RV 589. [3]

Former Musical Directors include Edward-Rhys Harry, Janet Lincé and Jacques Cohen.

Related Research Articles

The Harvard–Radcliffe Collegium Musicum is a mixed chorus at Harvard University, composed of roughly 50 voices from undergraduate and graduate student populations. Founded in 1971 to coincide with the coeducational merger of Harvard and Radcliffe College, Collegium drew from members of the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society to form a smaller mixed group that could represent Harvard on tours. Although Collegium used to perform primarily early Renaissance music, its repertoire now draws from centuries of a cappella and orchestral selections. Together with the (tenor-bass) Harvard Glee Club and the (soprano-alto) Radcliffe Choral Society, it is a member of the Harvard Choruses.

Handel and Haydn Society Musical artist

The Handel and Haydn Society, familiarly known as H+H, is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1815, it is in its 207th consecutive season, the most of any performing arts organization in the United States.

Margaret Hillis

Margaret Eleanor Hillis was an American conductor. She was the founder and first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musique-Cordiale</span>

The Musique Cordiale International Festival & Academy is an annual festival of classical music, song, oratorio and opera, founded in 2005. It usually* takes place in hill towns of the Pays de Fayence between Nice and Aix-en-Provence in the South of France in late July and during the first two weeks of August. The festival features up to 18 concerts including major choral and orchestral works, chamber ensembles, free lunchtime concerts and late night recitals in churches, chapels and in the open air.. This pattern of concerts only in Britain is being repeated in 2022 with an additional concert on 4 June 2022 in Doddington Place Gardens to commemorate the Queen's 70th Jubilee. It is envisaged that future festivals will take place in both Britain and France from 2023).

The Singapore Symphony Chorus (SSC) is the performing choir of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO). The SSC performs solely with the SSO, presenting an average of three programmes a year. The SSC was initiated in 1980 under the direction of Choo Hoey, then Music Director of the SSO. The SSC gave its first performances in June 1980.

Melinda ONeal

Melinda O'Neal is a conductor of choral and choral-orchestral music, professor emerita of music, and author.

Eugene Concert Choir is a choral masterworks organization in Eugene, Oregon, that consists of three performing ensembles: the 100-voice Eugene Concert Choir (ECC), the 36-voice chamber choir Eugene Vocal Arts (EVA), and the associated professional chamber orchestra Eugene Concert Orchestra.

Rockland Osgood is a contemporary American lyric tenor who has distinguished himself in a wide variety of musical idioms from the Baroque to the latest in Contemporary compositions. He is frequently praised for his exemplary musicianship, eloquence of expression, and immaculate diction.

The Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. The music director Fritz Reiner's original intent was to utilize the chorus for the two weeks of subscription concerts that season, performing George Frideric Handel's Messiah in December and Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem in April. When Bruno Walter informed the orchestra's management that his March 1958 appearances would be his last in Chicago, the board president, Eric Oldberg, insisted that Walter conduct Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem utilizing the new chorus. During that first season, it was logistically impossible for Hillis to audition and prepare a new Chorus for three major works within less than four months. As an interim fix, the Apollo Chorus of Chicago was used for the Christmas Messiah concerts.

The Philharmonic Orchestra

The Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) is an amateur orchestra in Singapore, initiated as a project by Maestro Lim Yau in 1998. The orchestra consists of adults who have a keen and serious interest to perform music. Formerly known as the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Society (PCOS), the group became The Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) to better reflect its intention to perform both symphonic and chamber works.

Saint Peter's Singers (SPS) is a chamber choir associated with Leeds Minster, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England that celebrated during the Season 2017/2018 the fortieth anniversary of the choir's formation by Harry Fearnley in 1977. An anniversary concert took place at Leeds Minster on Sunday 25 June 2017 with the National Festival Orchestra and soloists Kristina James, Joanna Gamble, Paul Dutton and Quentin Brown. Further anniversary year events included Bach Cantatas and Music for Christmas at Fulneck Church in August and December respectively, Handel Coronation Anthems at Holy Trinity, Boar Lane as part of the Leeds Handel Festival in September and a tour of East Anglia in October. In November at Leeds Town Hall, the Singers participated in Herbert Howells's masterpiece Hymnus Paradisi with Leeds Philharmonic Chorus and Leeds College of Music Chorale under the direction of Dr David Hill with the Orchestra of Opera North. 2018 began with a concert of Sacred Choral Masterworks at Leeds Town Hall in February and Bach's Mass in B minor at Leeds Minster on Good Friday 2018 in memory of long-serving member Jan Holdstock. The final concert of the current season takes place at Leeds Minster on Sunday 24 June at Leeds Minster at 5.30. At this event will be presented the first performance of a new work from composer Philip Moore commissioned for the Singers' 40th anniversary – the motet Tu es Petrus – along with music by E W Naylor, Arvo Part, Sir Hubert Parry, Judith Bingham and Maurice Durufle.

The Philharmonia Chorus is an independent self-governing symphony chorus based in London, UK. Since its foundation in 1957 the Chorus has given over 900 concerts and made over 100 recordings. The Chorus Master is Gavin Carr.

The Southampton Philharmonic Choir is a large choral society based in Southampton, England. It has around 170 members and also benefits from collaborating with the students of the Southampton University Philharmonic Choir. The choir regularly performs with a professional orchestra, the New London Sinfonia, and is directed by David Gibson.

Ingeborg Reichelt was a German soprano singer known for her interpretation of works by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Charles Kennedy Scott

Charles James Kennedy Osborne Scott was an English organist and choral conductor who played an important part in developing the performance of choral and polyphonic music in England, especially of early and modern English music.

The San Francisco Choral Society is a nonprofit organization comprising 150-200 auditioned, volunteer singers dedicated to the performance of choral masterpieces and commissioned works, and accompanied by professional orchestras and soloists. The performance schedule includes two concerts each in spring, summer, and fall, and an annual holiday concert and singalong.

Chor von St. Bonifatius German mixed choir

The Chor von St. Bonifatius is a German mixed choir, the church choir of the parish St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden. It was founded in 1862 as a male choir and was a mixed choir from 1887. From 1981 to 2018, it was conducted by Gabriel Dessauer, who founded two children's choirs. The group sang the first performance in Germany of John Rutter's Mass of the Children and performed in Azkoitia, San Sebastián, Görlitz, Bruges, Macon and Rome. Colin Mawby composed for the choir the Missa solemnis Bonifatius-Messe for the 150th anniversary, celebrated on 3 October 2012. From 2019, the choir has been conducted by Roman Twardy who conducted in his first concert Dvořák's Stabat Mater.

The Music for the Requiem Mass is any music that accompanies the Requiem, a Mass in the Catholic Church for the deceased. It has inspired a large number of compositions, including settings by Mozart, Berlioz, Donizetti, Verdi, Bruckner, Dvořák, Fauré and Duruflé. Originally, such compositions were meant to be performed in liturgical service, with monophonic chant. Eventually the dramatic character of the text began to appeal to composers to an extent that they made the requiem a genre of its own, and the compositions of composers such as Verdi are essentially concert pieces rather than liturgical works.

Accentus is a French chamber choir founded by Laurence Equilbey in 1991. The ensemble has been in residence at the Opéra de Rouen since 1998. When in Rouen, the choir usually holds concerts at the Théâtre des Arts or the recently reopened Chapelle Corneille

<i>Rheingauer Kantorei</i> Choir

Rheingauer Kantorei, now Neue Rheingauer Kantorei, is a mixed choir of the Rheingau region in Germany, performing mostly sacred music in services and concerts.

References

  1. Schulz, Günter (22 September 2019). "Glanzvoller Opernabend in der Johanneskirche" [Gala Opera Evening in the Johanneskirche]. Westdeutsche Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  2. Kaumann, Armin (23 September 2019). "Verdi in Spitzenqualität" [Top quality Verdi]. Rheinische Post (in German). Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  3. "Past events". Reading Festival Chorus. Retrieved 7 December 2021.