And before that..........
Our Christmas concert 2014
Another packed house and an animated audience made this a lively evening with plenty of audience participation. This event seems so popular that we are thinking seriously about running it over 2 nights to meet the demand for tickets.
Another Fine Mass
Saturday 11th October 2014 at 7.45pm at Westcliff High School for Boys
Our concert featured Mozart's "Sparrow Mass" and Haydn's Maria Theresa Mass and was supported by a number of shorter pieces. The first was "The Soldier", written by one of our members, Collin Webber, to commemorate the centenary of the First World War and was followed by more established works from Schubert, Bach and Gluck. The first half was rounded off with the six movements of the "Sparrow Mass".
The rather longer Maria Theresa Mass formed the second half and was very well received by an appreciative audience. Once again the choir, orchestra and in particular our four soloists
"A Night at the Movies"
Saturday 10th May 2014 at 7.45 pm at Westcliff High School for Boys
This was our third joint performance with the Sid Bolan Big Band and focused on popular music from the movies. We kicked off with a medley of songs by Irving Berlin including among others; "There's No Business Like Show Business," " Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Puttin on the Ritz," "Blue Skies" and followed that up in a more romantic mood with "Unchained Melody," "When I Fall In Love," "As Time Goes By," "Every Time" and ended the first half with a medley of the title songs from James Bond Films.
After the interval we enjoyed a series of jazz standards including; "Lullaby of Broadway," "Once In a While," "Moonlight Serenade," "Stompin' at the Savoy," " Autumn Leaves," "Sweet Georgia Brown," followed by a delightful choral quartet performance of "Mr Sandman," and concluded with a medley from the great Leonard Bernstein's classic musical "West Side Story."
Christmas Concert 2013
A Popular concert with the venue being over subscribed 100% - maybe next year a bigger venue or two concerts?
A Night at the Opera
"Your best performance yet" "We would have to go to the West End to hear voices like that" "Excellent" "Great value for money" "Thoroughly entertaining" Our new Patron David Amess MP talked of "sheer entertainment value"
These were just a few of the comments at our evening of Opera Music. This concert exceeded all our best expectations in terms of the standard of performance that was achieved by the choir, an inspired orchestra which included a delightful violin solo by Hannah Woolmer of Massenet's Meditation and an amazing demonstration of talent and musical ability from four accomplished soloists, Kara Florish (soprano), Claire Filer (mezzo soprano), William Davies (tenor) and James Williams (baritone). The range and quality of their voices was stunning as was their ability to create a dramatic operatic atmosphere in a school hall. It was a truly wonderful evening for everyone involved. It leaves us with just one problem. How do we follow that?
We are delighted to have Mr David Amess, MP for Southend West as our Patron. His encouragement and support are very much appreciated.
Best of British 2013 at Westcliff High.
Our "Best of British" concert on Saturday 11th May was arguably a best for Eastwood Chorale. In a programme of music from English composers we started with the Requiem by John Rutter. It is a lovely piece that has moments of beautifully delicate moving harmonies with choral passages interspersed with orchestral response. It also has some darker passages reflecting the emotional turmoil we feel at the passing of someone close.
The choir and orchestra gave us an excellent performance that provided that special tingle that comes from live music for all the right reasons. This was followed by a rousing rendition of Zadok ( for the techinically minded, written just after Handel had taken up British citizenship) that threatened to raise the roof. We then enjoyed some lighter British music, including Rutter's Gaelic Blessing, O Peaceful England from Merrie England.
A highlight of the evening was soprano Kara Florish singing Lascia Ch'io Pianga (Let me weep also by Handel). Our orchestra then gave us a lively bit of Gilbert & Sullivan with the Overture from the Pirates of Penzance followed by Kara and the choir performing Poor Wand'ring One.
The finale of the evening was another high point as we invited the audience to join in three British favourites, The British Grenadiers, Jerusalem and Rule Britannia. It was then a question of who would generate the most sound, the orchestra, the choir or the audience. It was close but perhaps the audience won but then they had flags to wave.
The performance was attended among others by the Mayor and Mayoress Councillor Brian and Ann Kelly and David Amess MP.
Christmas Concert 2012 at Eastwood
We rounded off a busy year for the choir with an enjoyable concert for family and friends at the Eastwood Community Centre. A very welcome inclusion was the appearance of a professional string quartet "Ellora Strings" who added considerably to the normal seasonal fare and created an air of sophistication that lost non of the warmth that we have come to expect on these occasions. The pictures from this last event have been included in our 'Join Us' page as they give a good indication of the enjoyment of an event.
The Choir at the Stroke Club 2012
Our annual visit to the Stroke Club at Southend was, as always, well attended and popular with our audience and choir members too! This is the first time pictures have been taken at one of these occasions and shows the choir in relaxed and festive mode.
Joint Christmas concert with SPO December 2012
Our joint concert with the Southend Philharmonic was a resounding success. The feedback from the packed audience was most encouraging and our thanks go to the lively participation of the SPO. The choir had struggled with Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols, quite a challenging piece with complicated rhythms but the choir gave one of their best ever performances which even surprised our Musical Director Ian Walker.
Showstoppers - October 2012
Our repertoire of music from the shows is always one of our most popular events, with audiences and members alike. But with songs from Les Miserables, West Side Story, Phantom and Fiddler on the Roof, who could go wrong? However perhaps the most popular performance on the night was our medley from Oliver, a new piece for the choir. With songs like "Consider Yourself", "Oom-pah-pah" and "I'd Do Anything" the audience were rocking in their seats in time to the beat and were clearly enjoying themselves.
A notable highlight of the evening was a solo performance by Jonathon Morrell on Marimba and Vibraphone. This was in addition to accompanying the choir on keyboards. His jazz version of Gershwin's American in Paris was superb, he is an amazing local talent and still only 16!
Carmina Burana - May 2012
This was our biggest and most ambitious concert to date and another complete sell out! Close to 100 voices supported by Southend Boys' and Girls' choir, a 61 piece orchestra plus three excellent soloists performed to a packed full house. The Polovtsian dances got us off to a rousing start and was followed by the very popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninov, the piano part played beautifully by Daniel Roberts. The Carmina Burana is rarely performed because of the size and cost of production. The piece is full of dramatic contrasts and unusual rhythms. With the support of Billericay Choral Society and a number of singers who wanted to join us for this concert, we really made this an evening to remember.
Concert Classics - September 2011
On Saturday 24th September Eastwood Chorale, ably supported by the Eastwood Ensemble gave us a truly delightful evening with a spirited performance of the Schubert Magnificat and the Haydn Nelson Mass plus 3 shorter pieces. The soloists all added a touch of polish to the performance but special mention must be made of Kara Florish, soprano who has a truly wonderful voice and has become a very accomplished performer. A highlight of the evening was a first public performance of the Beethoven piano concerto No. 1 by Daniel Roberts. His phrasing and control beautifully emphasised the lyrical nature of the work. It sounded much too well polished to be a first performance.
The Yanks are Coming - April 2011
Following the success of our joint concert with the Sid Bolan Big Band last autumn, We joined forces again with a programme of mostly American light music from the 1940s and 50s including medleys from Gershwin and Cole Porter, Moonlight Serenade, Lullaby of Broadway, Once in a While, and much more. The Sid Bolan Big Band are an accomplished group of musicians who create an authentic big band sound. We were very pleased to be performing with them again and we think this was a most memorable evening for everyone.
Combined Concert with Southend Philhamonic - January 2011
Our joint programme included a variety of orchestral and choral pieces which was put togther in quite a rush in place of our cancelled Christmas concert. The orchetra gave us Elgar's Serenade for Strings and Vaughan Williams very popular Folk Song Suite. The choir perormed the first public performance with orchestra of our own composer Sally Elsey's piece "Truce" which was followed by Mendelssohn's Christus. in the second half the orchestra led with Haydn's Symphony 18 followed by the choir with Mozart's lovely Ave Verum and Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine. Our concert ended with a charming narrated tour of the orchestra in the form of "Tubby the Tuba" by George Kleinsinger.
Beethoven 9th Choral & Mozart Requiem - March 2010
The evening, probably the choirs' most ambitious project to date was an undoubted success being enjoyed by the audience, Eastwood Chorale and Billericay Choral Society, the orchestra and the four gifted soloists, again a full house with queues out of the door and extra seating arranged.
Link to concert details page 1
Christmas Concert with Southend Philharmonic Orchestra - December 2009
We enjoyed a very full house with our musical celebration for the Christmas season. The evening opened with a lively orchestral piece, Mendelssohn's Italian, followed by traditional and modern carols. Some accompanied by the full orchestra and others by the impressive sound of Crowstone's beautiful organ and an impressive contribution from a very responsive audience. An undoubted highlight of the evening was a performance of the Snowman by Howard Blake, which demonstrated the delightful variety of musical sound that can be created by the orchestra. Our treble soloist was Joshua Wallen who gave us a very polished performance; the narrator was John Culley who kept the storey line in perfect pace with the music and created just the right atmosphere for this entertaining work.
The Music of Gabriel Faure - October 2009
The excellent acoustics and intimate ambiance of Southend High School for Boys made a good setting for the beautiful melodies, complex harmonies and subtlety of Faure's work. The choir was ably accompanied by the Eastwood Ensemble who provided most of the music for the first half. Particularly memorable was a very mature cello solo from Jonathan Duell, a 16 year old local lad who has a prodigious talent.
The Requiem is a favourite piece of choirs and audiences alike and we can only hope that our audience enjoyed the piece as much as the performers. Our guest soloists Catherine Humphrey, soprano, and John Culley, baritone added their polished performances to great effect.
Songs from the Great American Song Book - May 2009
St, Margaret's Church Hall, Leigh, A very good audience turned out for this performance. They clearly enjoyed the variety of medleys from well known musicals, West Side Story, Guys And Dolls and others as well as a number of very familiar popular songs of years gone by like Chatanooga Choo Choo, Moon River, Catch a falling Star and many others. The familiar melodies linger in the mind, echoing memories of the past. A new departure for the choir was a barbershop quartet with Fats Waller's "Aint Misbehavin" went well. We will try to do some more of this in the future and perhaps persuade the ladies to try something similar.
Christmas Old and New - December 2008
The accoustics at St Peter's Hadleigh are very good for choral singing. So in spite of a very cold night we had a good turnout for our Christmas concert which raised some valuable funding for the Church restoration fund. We enjoyed a lively participation from the audience in the more traditional carols while the choir took on some less well known pieces, some of them composed and arranged by members of the choir, (thanks to Sally and Ray.) Our special thanks also go to Claire Richardson who performed some lovely solos for us. Her version of the 12 days after Christmas was as accomplished as it was amusing. Thank you Claire.
3 French Musical Masterpieces - September 2008
We had a packed house at the Salvation Army Citadel for this concert which brought together the voices of Eastwood Chorale, Billericay Choral Society, the Lower School Choir from Southend High School for Boys, 3 talented soloists and the Eastwood Ensemble comprising 51 local musicians. This was by some way the most challenging programme that we have attempted but judging from the positive response from our audience, the hard work put in by the choirs and our Musical Director was all very much worthwhile.
Charity Gala Concert - July 2008
This was a very different evening's entertainment combining the talents of The Harmonie Concert Band, The Julie Noble School of Dance and Drama as well as Eastwood Chorale. Rehearsals were very interesting as all three elements had been working with different musical arrangements. However these obstacles were overcome and we enjoyed a wide variety of melodies and rhythms in a global musical tour with the band, a very attractive performance of tap, modern and ballet from the dancers while the choir weighed in with medlies from Miss Saigon and Les Mis. Our finale was a combined effort with all three elements participating in "Get Happy." What really made us happy was the thought that while the evening was enjoyable for the performers as well as the audience, we raised £1,200 for our two chosen charities, Little Havens Hospices and St Martin's Residential Care Home.
Handel's Messiah 1st & 8th March 2008
Combining again with Billericay Choral society we enjoyed two rousing performances of this very popular work. Our soloists and the Eastwood Ensemble also did us proud with performances that demonstrated their talents and their obvious enthusiasm for the music.
Musical Christmas Fayre December 2007
We made an early start with our seasonal celebrations this year with a lively concert of popular songs and carols and lots of participation from an appreciative audience.
Pop and Showstoppers October 2007
This fun event comprised popular music from the Beatles, Beachboys and Frank Sinatra among others, as well as some big hits from musical shows that have been performed all over the world, such as Phantom, Chess, Miss Saigon and Les Miserables.
Joint Concert with Simply Brass September 2007
This was an interesting exercise in the sense that it is hard for a choir to compete with the sound level that a brass band can achieve. However the programme gave us a mix of music that allowed Simply Brass to demonstrate their considerable abilities whilst the choir sang some of their lighter repertoire accompanied by the piano. We also managed to co-operate on a few pieces, the band playing in a more restrained way whilst the choir rose to the challenge to produce a very pleasing result.
St Georges Day Concert - April 2007
This was a musical celebration of St George's day with appropriately traditional music, some of it very familiar but not heard so often these days with plenty of audience participation our rousing rendition of old favourites such as Jerusalem, Rule Britannia complete with crashing cymbals.
Verdi's Requiem 1st July 2006
This event was the most ambitious and the most successful event we have held, We were joined by the Billericay Choral Society, members of the Southend Philharmonic Orchestra, and the following individual artists some of international repute.