Tours and Concerts

On the evening of Saturday 6 March, Alfreton Male Voice Choir joined forces with the Chapel Choir from S Anselm’s, Bakewell in a Charity Concert in aid of Helen’s Trust.

After a lively opening by the Male Voice Choir, mainly consisting of songs from the shows, one of the baritones from Alfreton sang a handful of numbers, accompanied by himself on the guitar – with some audience participation of course!.

The Chapel Choir then took to the stage with performance of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis from George Dyson’s Evening Service in C minor, followed by ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ by Howard Goodall (aka ‘The Theme Music from the Vicar of Dibley’!).   All three pieces were sung with the confidence and control that proves the hard work put in over the past few months.  These pieces were also the basis for the Choral Evensong service sung at York Minster last month and will remain in the repertoire for our trip down to Hereford Cathedral in May.

The Alfreton Male Voice Choir concluded the first half with three songs from Les Miserables, before a well-deserved glass of wine and an opportunity to buy raffle tickets in the Sports Hall.

After the interval, S Anselm’s provided some solo items – a lovely rendition of Elizabeth Poston’s Dormouse’s Carol sung by Fleur and Poppy was followed by two of our up-and-coming musicians from the 3^rd year.  Annabel played a lovely, gentle piece by Goldschmidt called ‘Evening’, followed by a well-known section from Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik played by Georgina on the descant recorder.  The solo section ended with a lovely, controlled rendition of Purcell’s ‘I attempt from love’s sickness’, sung by Grace.   All five of the pupils have taken grade 4 or 5 exams on their instrument in the past week.  We await the results…

S Anselm’s Chapel Choir launched into the telling of the story of Noah and his mission to build an ark and fill it with animals (by two, by two, by two…)

The complete cantata, some 26 minutes long, contains a huge number of words, but our slightly abridged version was a real challenge, and one that, once again, the choir met and succeeded in.   There were splendid solos by Ella and Nancy, and masterfully accompanied on the piano by Peter Malcolm, with the final number in particular showing the enjoyment and sense of real satisfaction and fun from the choirmembers.

The Alfreton Male Voice choir returned to the stage for a couple more songs, including Flanders and Swann’s magnificent ‘The Hippopotamus’, the chorus of which echoed around the hall from choirs and audience alike, and after a rousing performance of ‘Rhythm of Life’, the choirs amalgamated for two final pieces.

‘O When the Saints’ had the feet tapping, while ‘Let there be Peace on Earth’ really summed up the feeling of the whole evening.

Louise Jordan from Helen’s Trust spoke about the charity and made everyone realise what a marvellous cause we were supporting.  The 100-strong audience, through attended the concert and buying raffle tickets, helped to support the excellent work they do.   In return, they had a very entertaining evening.

Well done to everyone involved.