THE SINFONIA CHORALE

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Who we are | Some recent highlights | Fortieth Anniversary Year 2006| 2007| 2007-8 Season| 2008-9 Season

Who we are

The Sinfonia Chorale is recognised as one of the leading small choirs in the East Midlands.

The choir was formed in 1966 as the English Sinfonia Chorale. Over the last fifteen years, with Richard Roddis as its Director, it has enhanced its reputation for fine, expressive and exciting choral singing, and for ambitious and innovative programming. Several concerts are given every year in Nottingham and the surrounding counties.

The choir has around forty members including professional musicians and amateur instrumentalists. All share the same enthusiasm for singing and have many years of experience singing in choirs and smaller groups. The weekly rehearsals are lively, with plenty of humour and hard work, and are enjoyed by everyone. Enthusiasm and keenness to sing music written over the last five centuries is a hallmark of the choir for which it has gained a fine reputation. Particular interest has been taken in music written in the twentieth century and members have gained enormous pleasure through performing music by Britten, Poulenc, Carl Rütti and Walton (to name but a few) over the last few years. The music is frequently difficult to learn but the concentrated hard work at rehearsal is rewarded by an exhilarating and exciting performance enjoyed by both singers and audience.

Occasionally the choir sings with an orchestra or with organ accompaniment but a cappella, or unaccompanied, singing remains central to the repertoire.

Over the years the Sinfonia Chorale has developed its own distinctive sound based on technical accuracy, infectious enthusiasm and appreciation of the various styles of music performed. These, and many more attributes, are much appreciated by its audience. The following are a few of the recent press comments describing the sound of the Sinfonia Chorale: “Singing of rare beauty”, “luminous singing, the sound warm and clear”, “Technically, this is one of the best equipped chamber choirs in the region”.

Sinfonia Chorale concerts are usually held in March, June/July, November and December. Venues include St Mary’s Church in Nottingham Lace Market, the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Albert Hall, Southwell Minster, the Djanogly Recital Hall, The Cathedral Church of St Barnabas Nottingham, Patchings Farm Art Centre Calverton, St Mark’s Church Woodthorpe, Derby Assembly Rooms, Newark Parish Church and Sheffield Cathedral.

Some recent highlights

Robert Steadman, a Nottingham composer, was commissioned to write Gloria which was programmed with Vivaldi’s Gloria in 1998 and received the review “Glorious music, gloriously sung”. Two years later the Sinfonia Chorale commissioned Isabel Jones, local choreographer and director of Salamanda Tandem and Eye Contact, to choreograph dance for a performance of Liszt’s Via Crucis in Southwell Minster. The evening was memorable with moving images of the Crucifixion set to Liszt’s music and one member of the press commenting “an outstanding event”.

More recent collaborations have been with the Helix Ensemble, the Derby Bach Choir, the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra, the Derby Concert Orchestra, the Derwent Singers and The English Pro Music Brass Ensemble. The concerts have mixed the popularity of works such as Fauré' Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, the exhilarating sounds of late renaissance music for multiple choirs by the Venetian masters Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, and Monteverdi and less well-known but effective and heartfelt pieces by Gerald Finzi, Trevor Hold and Richard Roddis - Pietà.

Fortieth Anniversary Year 2006

The Sinfonia Chorale has been celebrating its 40th Anniversary year with an exciting programme of events.

The first highlight was a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in Southwell Minster, on the Tuesday of Holy Week. As well as directing the performance, Richard Roddis sang the role of the Evangelist, which made the event a very personal one for him. But there was also a quartet of very distinguished soloists, and a wonderful ensemble of players of period instruments led by Nicolette Moonen. And of course the choir (hear the clip in Listen to our music). Peter Palmer wrote, in the Nottingham Evening Post: In its 40th anniversary season, the Sinfonia Chorale reaffirmed its position as the region's premier chamber choir. One could never hope to find more devoted music-making than this.

To complete the 40th Anniversary Year we had a busy autumn.

In October there was a Concert Tour of Tuscany, when the choir sang during Mass in Florence Cathedral (Duomo) and concerts in Florence, Pisa and Montecatini Terme.

Then, on 5 November we sang Ildebrando Pizzetti’s ‘Requiem Mass’ (why isn’t this wonderful work better known in this country?) together with Palestrina’s ‘Missa Brevis’ and a number of English motets and anthems, in St Barnabas Cathedral, Derby Road, Nottingham.

In addition to our annual Christmas Concert at Patchings Art Centre on Sunday 10th December, we again gave a charity Christmas Concert in aid of the Nottingham Branch of the Alzheimer’s Society at St Mark’s Church, Woodthorpe, on Tuesday 12 December.

2007

We began 2007 with a Come and Sing/Play event on 20th January. This was a new adventure for the choir, although Richard Roddis is a very experienced leader. He was joined by Nicolette Moonen, who led the instrumentalists, and we explored some of the South American music that featured in the next concert.

‘Music from the Americas’ was performed at St Barnabas on 17th March, and featured Baroque music from South America and twentieth-century music from North America.

The Chorale was invited back to Southwell Minster for Good Friday 2007, when we performed another ‘St John Passion’ this time by the great contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

On 19th May we repeated our successful collaboration with the Derby Bach Choir and the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra to perform Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony.

The season ended - almost - with a Midsummer Serenade at St Mary's Church, Bottesford on 30th June. We premiered four Lyrics for Classics, settings of familiar works with texts by Don Read and arrangements by Michael Neaum.

And a week later, in St Mark's Church, Woodthorpe, we recorded them, with Michael Neaum accompanying us. Clips from three of them can be found on the Lyrics for Classics website www.lyricsforclassics.com: click here and then click on 'The Music'.

2007-8 Season

In the 2007-8 season the choir continued to build on the adventurous programme developments of the past two years.

On November 3rd we explored the 'Magnificat', Mary's great song, in a range of settings from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, interspersed with settings of other texts associated with Mary: click here for details. Peter Palmer wrote in the Nottingham Evening Post that this was 'a superb programme, superbly performed.'

As well as our regular Christmas concert at Patchings Art Centre on Sunday 9th December, we presented another at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Oxton, on Tuesday 11th December.

After the success of the Come and Sing/Play day in 2007, we joined in another on Sat 19th January 2008, followed by a concert with our Baroque instrumentalist colleagues in March. Both featured one of the best kept secrets of the Baroque era - the Requiem a 15 in A by Biber. The concert was completed by music for two seventeenth century royal funerals, by Purcell and Marc-Antoine Charpentier: click here for details, and go to 'Listen to our music' to hear some extracts.

Two concerts at short notice gave us a busy summer. On 17th May we provided the choral ingredient for the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra's "Let's Dance" at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall, extending our repertoire with songs from musicals. On the 7th June a more conventional (for us) concert was presented at St Martin's Church, Sherwood.

On the 5th July we repeated our summer visit to Bottesford, this time sharing the limelight with children from Bottesford C of E Primary School. The main items were performances of 'Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo' by Flanders and Horovitz, and 'Cloudburst' by Eric Whitacre (and the weather duly deteriorated again).

Liz Mills, who worked wonders with the children, said afterwards: "... the concert was great fun and the children got such a lot from being part of something which, for most, was very new and very exciting. We have had SO many comments from thrilled parents, grannies, neighbours and the local community. They were thoroughly 'WOWED' by Sinfonia Chorale, and thrilled to see our little crew 'up front' too."

2008-9 Season

The 2008-9 season starts with a trip to Krakow, preceded by a pre-tour concert at the Polish church, Kościół Matki Boskiej Częstochowskiej, on Sherwood Rise Nottingham, and followed by Polish Connections a concert on 1 November at St Barnabas Cathedral. Music by two Polish composers, Panufnik and Górecki, and (in the 50th anniversary year of his death) the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams will be included.

To begin the Christmas season we will be taking part in 'Belvoir by Candlelight' at Belvoir Castle on Tuesday 2nd December. Then, as well as the traditional Patchings Christmas Concert on 14 December, we will present a Christmas concert on behalf of the Alzheimer's Society at St Mark's Church Woodthorpe on 16th December.

The 17th January 2009 will bring our third 'Come and Sing/Play' in Bramcote. This time we will be exploring Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, 7th April 2009, we will return to SOuthwell Minster with a performance of JS Bach's great St Matthew Passion.

The summer schedule is still being worked on ...

but as a marker for the following season, we aim to perform two contrasting sets of Vespers - by Rachmaninov in November 2009, and, to mark its 400th anniversary, Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 on 20 March 2010.

For details, go to the Past Glories and Future Events pages and follow the links.

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