Forthcoming events

Christmas Carol Concert

Thursday 15th December 2010, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary, at 8 p.m.

Details to be advised.

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2012

Division One: Friday 13th April 2012, Dorking Halls

The competition schedule is:

Recent events

Summer concert: My spirit sang all day

Saturday 2nd July 2011, St James' church, Abinger Common, at 8 p.m.

The summer concert was particularly successful. A large audience was treated to a programme of madrigals and part-songs, almost all taken from the Oxford ‘Madrigals and Partsongs&rsqo;. As a change from previous years, the concert was all choral music and was performed without an interval, allowing refreshments to be enjoyed at the end without time constraints.

The final programme was as follows:

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2011

Division One: Thursday 14th April 2011, Dorking Halls

Another successful year, As in 2010 we won the Division overall and won all but three classes: Part Song, Ensemble and Own Choice. The concert in the evening went very well, with a good performance of both the Beethoven and the Vaughan Williams, and a memorable performance of the Brahms.

The competition schedule was:

Christmas Carol Concert: ‘The time of Snow’

Thursday 16th December 2010, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary, at 8 p.m.

With snow falling as the concert got under way, the title could not have been more appropriate. The slippery conditions outside meant that the hall wasn't completely packed, but full enough to create a good atmosphere, encouraging the choir to give of its best to an appreciative audience. The choir was conducted by musical director, Amy Bebbington, and accompanied by John Philpotts.

The programme was:

Summer concert: Much Ado About...

Saturday 10th July 2010, The Steyning Centre, Steying, West Sussex, at 7.30 p.m.
Sunday 11th July 2010, Belmont School, Holmbury St Mary, at 2.30 p.m.

The summer concert in collaboration with the Kaleidoscope Singers was a great success. The two choirs are of a comparable standard and blended well. We hope very much to collaborate with the same choir again at some future date.

The programme included the following arrangements of songs and sonnets William Shakespeare.

...and not so recent events

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2010

Division One: Saturday 17th April 2010, Dorking Halls

Despite the disappointment of not winning the Own Choice and Ensemble classes, we could hardly be disappointed by another overall win, and by a good margin. The evening concert was particularly memorable, the English Festival Orchestra being on fine form and Anna Stéphany providing us with a real treat in her singing of Elgar's Sea Pictures, before joining the combined chorus in a creditable performance of The Music Makers.

The competition schedule was:

Christmas Carol Concert: ‘Te Harinui’

Thursday 17th December 2009, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary, at 8 p.m.

A packed village hall - despite the icy roads - was treated to a vintage carol concert. Ian Assersohn, nursing a thick cold, brought his brief tenure as stand-in conductor to a suitably jolly and satisfying conclusion. In addition to the choral programme we were treated to a Dylan Thomas Christmas story, read by Jean Ridgers, and the more-or-less obligatory piano duet played by Ian Assersohn and our accompanist, Lesley Starr. Special mention should also go to Chris Hammond, who added a flute obligato to several of Ian Assersohn's compositions.

The final programme was:

Summer Concert: My Luve's like a Melodie – a celebration of American Music

Saturday 4th July 2009, St James' Church, Abinger Common, at 8 pm

On a balmy Independence Day evening we presented a programme of American choral music, with something for everyone. A surprise addition to the programme was a song set to music by Philip Glass, sung by a small ensemble. An audience of around 100 made St James' church feel comfortably full. The choir gave a solid performance all round, and the audience were warmly enthusiastic about the whole programme: it was a great way to round of the 2009 season. The programme was as follows:

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2009

Division One: Friday 17th April 2009, Dorking Halls

What a day! We assembled for our private warm-up at 8:10 am, before joining the other choirs in Division 1 for a combined warm-up, the Festival Song and announcement of test pieces. The part song was the first class to be performed, followed by the madrigal, followed by the women's and men's songs in the Martineau Hall. It had already become clear that Oxshott were very well prepared and were going to give us a run for our money. So at the mid-morning break we were delighted to find ourselves with wins in all four classes.

After the break we were first on stage to sing the test pieces. We never really got settled into the extract from the Foundling Hospital Anthem, but gave a pretty solid performance of The Storm from Willcocks' A Great and Glorious Victory. Then over to the Martineau Hall again for the ensemble class, with our Ensemble No 1 favourites but with rumours that Ensemble No 2 could mount a challenge. In the event we weren't surprised to lose the main chorus class to Oxshott – and nor were we particularly surprised that Ensemble No 1 continued its winning streak. We felt that Ensemble No 2 were judged rather harshly coming equal-fourth out of eight.

So we had won the Division overall, missing out only on one of the main classes. But perhaps the sweetest success of all came in the Own Choice class, which we not only won with Sure on this shining night (despite having a point deducted for being slightly over time), but much to our surprise we were asked to sing it again during the evening concert. Several of us are of the opinion that this had as much to do with the marvellously sensitive accompaniment from our regular accompanist, Lesley Starr, as anything else.

The concert was a great occasion, with Brian Kay wielding the baton as usual and Jonathan Willcocks distributing the banners and cups. The soloists Rhona McKail (soprano), Stephanie Lewis (mezzo) and Andrew Staples (tenor) were all excellent, and the English Festival Orchestra was on fine form. The only blemish was that the part song went off the rails, mainly because of a false start in the alto section and the inability of the sopranos to hear the piano accompaniment, resulting in poor tuning.

The competition schedule was:

'Sure on this Shining Night' – Christmas Carol Concert

Thursday 11th December 2008, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary, at 8 p.m.

This was one of the best-attended carol concerts of recent years, and the audience were not disappointed. The choir gave solid performances of pretty much everything on the programme. The two pieces destined to be sung at the Leith Hill Musical Festival in 2009 were well received. A success all round.

The programme was (audience joined in those marked *):

Summer Chansons

Saturday 12th July 2008, St James' Church, Abinger Common

The rain held off. The setting sun smiled on St James' Church and the singers, musicians and audience within. A packed church was rewarded with a (somewhat depleted) Choral Society giving one of its best performances outside the Festival for many years. The quality of music was much enhanced by Michael Wigram, ’cello, and Lesley Starr (our regular accompanist), piano – as well as by the generous acoustics – but most of the credit for the choir's performance, and the overall success of the event, must surely go to our conductor, Amy Bebbington, whose efforts in selecting the right programme for the resources available, and in voicing and training us so meticulously, resulted in confident performances throughout the programme. Michael Wigram's superb rendition of Après un Rêve will linger long in the memories of many who were there.

The final programme was:

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2008

Division One: Thursday 10th April 2008, Dorking Halls

This was a vintage year for Holmbury St Mary Choral Society! We won all the main classes and the Ensemble class. It was with a mixture of disappointment and relief that we didn't win the Own choice class, because to have "swept the board" would have been something of an embarrassment. The judge felt that we didn't quite "pull it off" with Tea for two, and I don't think there would be any serious disagreement about that. There was perhaps most disappointment that Ensemble 1, who (in this writer's opinion – and I was conducting!) put in their best performance, were not awarded a higher mark.

The ladies put in the best performance of the day, with a very moving performance of Bob Chilcott's The Lily and the Rose, and deservedly shared the prize for the highest mark (90) in any class in any Division over the three days. The men surpassed themselves by winning their class ("we never do!"). The Vaughan Williams arrangement of Down Among the Dead Men suited our forces, but it is to be hoped that Bob Chilcott can be persuaded to write something as beautiful as The Lily and the Rose (for which he rightly received an ovation in the concert) for the men to sing in a future competition!

The concert in the evening was also a great occasion, with a particularly fine quartet of soloists in the Haydn. Brian Kay exhibited all his usual passion, commitment and sense of fun. The English Festival Orchestra was generally on excellent form – especially in the Haydn Paukenmesse and the Mozart Serenata Notturno – but there were some comments that they somewhat overwhelmed the chorus towards the end of the Vaughan Williams (there was no shortage of sound on the chorus side of the proscenium arch, so the poor acoustics of the hall must be partly to blame).

A good set of photographs taken during our day can be browsed on the Leith Hill Musical Festival website.

The Division One programme for 2008 was:

Christmas Carol Concert

Thursday 13th December 2007, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary

This year's programme deliberately saw an increase in audience participation over previous years. One of several highpoints was provided by the (ultimately) successful attempt of our conductor, Amy Bebbington, to teach the audience and choir the round 'Freezing Fingers', complete with hand-movements. A packed hall enjoyed the usual diet of Christmas favourites, sacred and (especially in the case of 'Jingle Bells') profane, as well as the usual interval refreshments. Amy is to be congratulated on putting together a programme that the choir enjoyed singing as much as the audience enjoyed hearing. The programme was:

Mole Valley Arts Festival Concert: “Leith Hill Unleashed”

Saturday 13th October 2007, Dorking Halls

We contributed to a varied programme that featured several choirs representing all three Divisions of the Leith Hill Musical Festival, singing separately but not in competition. The concert also featured one of the winners of the Youth Choirs competition this year, and the Festival's regular accompanist, Alan Brown, gave a stunning performance of piano works by Chopin and E J Moeran.

Our contributions were:

• All my trials, Lord arranged by Bob Chilcott
• Let's do it by Cole Porter

Summer Tour Concert

Saturday 7th July 2007, Morchard Bishop, Devon

This was the last event at which the Choral Society was conducted by Tim Uglow, before his move from Surrey to Worksop. We sang a varied programme of mostly sacred music in the first half, followed after the interval by madrigals, songs from Broadway musicals and finishing with a series of spirituals. The choral contributions to the programme (there were organ and piano interludes provided by Tim Uglow and our accompanist, Lesley Starr) were:

Summer Concert

Saturday 23rd June 2007, Holy Trinity Parish Church, Westcott

The programme was much the same as for the concert on 7th July, but included extracts from Palestrina's Missa Brevis and the motet by Stanford Justorum animae.

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2007

Division One: Saturday 14th April 2007, Dorking Halls

The 2007competition started disappointingly for us. At the mid-morning break we had achieved two second-places and two third-places, leaving us trailing 10 points behind the leaders, Oxshott. Perhaps knowing that we had nothing to lose – catching Oxshott would be practically impossible – helped us to feel more relaxed in the remaining three classes, all of which we proceeded to win (Full chorus, Ensemble and Own choice). In the Ensemble class it was gratifying to gain an extra accolade by achieving (with two other choirs) the highest mark awarded in this year's competition (90 points). So, in the end, we had much to be satisfied with.

The concert was a great success. Encouraged by the baton of Brian Kay, the superb playing of the baroque ensemble Canzona, and the equally superb singing of five soloists, the combined choirs gave of their best and contributed to memorable performances of the Purcell and C.P.E. Bach in front of a packed house. With the composer, David Stone, in the audience, the women were obliged to sing Up in the morning twice – and did so in sparkling fashion.

The Division One programme for 2007 was as follows:

Christmas Carol Concert

Thursday 14th December 2006, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary at 8 pm

The choir had put on an ambitious programme with something for everyone. The selection from Britten's Ceremony of Carols. proved particularly successful. The Poulenc motets probably needed one or two more rehearsals to have sounded really confident, but the first half ended well with a very atmospheric rendering of Chilcott's Lully, lulla. After the usual excellent mulled wine and nibbles in the interval, recollection of the remainder of the programme is somewhat hazy... A particular mention should be made of the splendid piano duets performed by our conductor Tim Uglow and – stepping in at short notice – Lesley Starr, who normally sings Alto but is for the time being filling the gap left by the departure of our regular accompanist.

The main programme was as follows:

Remembrance Day Concert

Saturday 11th November 2006, Holy Trinity Parish Church, Westcott

In the first half of the concert the theme of remembrance ran through the programme from Richard Farrant's lovely Call to remembrance written in the 16th century to Bob Chilcott's very contemporary carol Remember, O thou man. The chronological journey included works by Purcell, Duruflé and Puccini – Puccini's rarely heard Requiem was splendidly accompanied by Myfanwy Walters on the viola, and Purcell's When I am laid in earth was beautifully sung by Lucy Cronin.

The most challenging piece in the first half was Purcell's Jehova quam multi hostes mei - a setting in 5 parts of Psalm 3. The choir brought out well the changes of mood and tempo, and two of the choir members, Francis Cave (tenor) and David Futcher (bass) gave convincing solos.

The second half of the concert consisted of Faure's Requiem. This delicate and demanding work sounds much easier than it is. The performance overall was sensitive and well phrased and articulated, both by the choir and by Lucy Cronin and David Futcher as soloists.

The large audience was rightly very appreciative of the performances, and the choir and soloists, Timothy Uglow as conductor and Gavin Roberts as organ accompanist were long and warmly applauded.

Richard Frost

The final programme was as follows:

Summer concert

Saturday 24th June 2006, St James' Church, Abinger Common at 7.30 pm

The afternoon rehearsal...	...and the evening performance.

This concert was judged a success by all concerned. The church was packed. The weather was kind. The interval food and wine helped to create a mellow atmosphere for the lighter second half after more serious business of the first half. The idea of singing as we processed to our places at the start of each half worked very well. The choir gave some very good performances throughout and the Holywell String Quartet and vocal soloists Abigail Boreham (Soprano), Annalise Roy (Alto), Anirban Roy (Tenor) and Richard Hooper (Bass) performed superbly and contributed greatly to a memorable evening. This was our programme:

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2006

Friday 21st April 2006, Dorking Halls

This year's Division 1 competition provided a nail-biting finish! At the mid-morning break the results of four classes had been declared: we had won the madrigal class, but Oxshott had won the part song, men's and women's song classes, and they were three points ahead! With only one more class to determine the winner of the highest aggregate score, we didn't fancy our chances. So it was with some surprise, as well as obvious delight, that we beat Oxshott by four points in the full chorus class and so won the highest aggregate score by just one mark! Nevertheless, our marks were somewhat lower that we might have hoped to achieve, and there were salutory lessons in this year's competition about the value of preparation and the value of learning as much of the music as possible by heart.

The evening concert for our Division contained several memorable highlights, started with the English Festival Orchestra, who gave a scintillating performance of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and were on top form throughout the evening. The competition trophies were presented by Richard Blackford, who gave us a fascinating insight into the process of composing Mirror of Perfection. This was followed by the performance of Mirror of Perfecfion, which proved extremely popular with the audience, much enhanced by some divine singing by the bass and soprano soloists and some equally divine playing by the orchestra. It was a rare privilege to perform such a beautiful work with the composer in the audience.

The programme of music for our Division was:

Christmas Carol Concert

Thursday 15th December 2005, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary

Always an extremely popular event with which to start the Festive Season, this year's Carol Concert at the W.I. Hall was no exception. The appreciative audience was treated to the usual diet of sweet and savoury items, both in musical and culinary terms, washed down with some excellent mulled wine. On the musical front the highlights of the programme were:

		For Bob Chilcott's Where Riches is Everlasting the rumba rhythm was warmed up nicely by a percussion trio

		Tim Uglow and the choir receive applause at the end of the concert

Leith Hill Musical Festival 2005

Thursday 14th April 2005, Dorking Halls

2005 was the Centenary year for the Leith Hill Musical Festival. All were agreed that the major works on the programme (Poulenc and Vaughan Williams) were challenging, to say the least. Success in any part of the competition was by no means assured. Yet, to the surprise of some and the delight of all, we succeeded in winning the Full chorus, Men's song, Part song and Own choice classes, as well as a result achieved the highest aggregate score.The combined choirs concert in the evening went well. Dona nobis pacem was particularly moving, in no small part due to fine performances from the soloists Lucy Crowe (soprano) and William Berger (baritone). The English Festival Orchestra were on their usual exemplary form, and as usual we all enjoyed singing under Brian Kay's baton.

The full competition programme was as follows:

Christmas Carol Concert

Thursday 16th December 2004, W.I. Hall, Holmbury St Mary

This annual event was as enjoyable for all concerned as ever.

Music for a Midsummer Evening

Friday 25th June 2004, Woodhouse Copse, Holmbury St Mary

By kind permission of Monika Saunders and Music at Woodhouse we gave a concert at Woodhouse Copse as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations for the village of Holmbury St Mary. In the beautiful setting of the Woodhouse Copse concert hall and garden we sang a varied programme to an appreciative local audience. Conducted as usual by Timothy Uglow, we were accompanied by David Hinitt and were joined by the baritone Michael Pearce for a performance of Vaughan Williams' Five Mysical Songs. Timothy Uglow and David Hinitt provided two piano duet interludes. The full programe was as follows: