RCS Newsletter

The Royal Choral Society

Summer Newsletter2011

As you will all know, Virginia has decided that in due course, she will relinquish the reins as our Administrator. When that time comes, we will lose her boundless enthusiasm, creativity and huge capacity for laughter. We will miss her sensitivity to people, especially those who have needed a helping hand in whatever difficulty they have found themselves. These are but some of the qualities which have been the foundation underpinning the sheer hard work and commitment which she has brought to the Administrator’s role.

I also know that, because of her love for all things RCS, giving up the job will be a terrible wrench for her. But it is critical that, after five gruelling years, she should have the additional freedom to run and develop her own expanding business based in Shaftesbury.

How often have we all heard it said that our thanks are inadequate and, certainly in this case, that will be true, but say it I will because “silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone”! So Virginia, THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Some of our losses bring a sadness of a different order. David Godwin, a Director and enthusiastic supporter of the RCS, died at the end of March, and Duncan Watney

in July. Board Meetings without David’s wisdom are missing a very important ingredient, quite apart from the pleasure his joyous personality gave to all with whom he came into contact. Duncan too was not just a stalwart member of the Choir because, in addition, he kept us on our toes by bringing a challenging view to bear on many aspects of the way the RCS operates. They will both be sorely missed.

I want to close this statement by looking forward. The future of Virginia’s role as Administrator has been under intense scrutiny and discussion over the last months. I know that a number of you have already committed to carrying out valuable roles and others will soon be doing so. To all of you I can but express my enormous personal gratitude for giving up some of your freedom to be a part of the team seeking to maintain the successes and momentum achieved in the last years. There is never enough time in busy lives so thank you for providing the RCS with some part of it.

AnthonyAnthony Forbes July 2011

A message from our Chairman

2 | Keep an eye on the Choir Noticeboard in the Members’ Area at www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk

We know that there are many photographers among you, busy recording the choir throughout the year, and we would love to see the fruits of your labours.

We are planning to provide you with a place to upload low resolution versions of your photographs onto the Members’ area of the RCS website, so that we can all share them. To find out how to do this, keep an eye out for further details which will eventually be posted on the new Choir Noticeboard, which

is already in place and active in the Members’ Area.

As an additional incentive to keep you snapping away, each year we will select a number of photographs to publish in the newsletter, and we will choose one to use as the front cover image.

So, post your low resolution images on the website but do make sure you store the high resolution ones on a memory stick and keep it somewhere safe, so we can call upon them as and when we need to.

Every farewell combines loss and new freedom Catullus

PhotogrAPhy ComPetition: We want to see it your way

Front and back covers: The Royal Albert Hall, London: the choir’s principal home. Photograph, Jackie Freshfield, April 2011

Thank you for another great year of singing and concerts. It has been uplifting to have given such triumphant performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in two inspiring venues, and you maintained a staggering level of sound and stamina, and variety of dynamic contrast throughout.

As an aside, I must say I was surprised but very pleased at the volume you seemed happy to produce at the Missa Solemnis rehearsals….it is an extremely demanding task for the higher voices, though each voice part is of equal importance, and you rose to the challenge well. Beethoven, I do feel strongly, was exploring the frontiers, and breaking extraordinary new ground. Because of his work, the great composers of the 19th century were able to extend the boundaries of music. His was a combination of innovation with true genius.

Taking a step further back, to November last year, It was without doubt a good build-up for the Beethoven to have sung the Nelson Mass. That concert, and the carols in December, illustrated a continuing high standard of achievement.

I must also mention Messiah, which seems to have come home. People are coming to hear our annual performance in ever-increasing numbers and it seems to be sending them home extremely happy, as well as bringing a significant amount of cash our way. This success enables us to continue with our other promotions, such as the Missa Solemnis and later this year, our Rembrance Concert at Central Hall in Westminster on Friday 11th November.

Overall, the last 12 months have once more been good and many people, most notably Virginia, contribute significant amounts of time to keep the RCS afloat. We should all be aware and grateful for all that they do, and also for the great support we all get from Mr Accurate and Always Enthusiastic at the piano.

I hope you all have a good summer, and look forward to seeing you in September.

Thanks to everyone,

RichardRichard Cooke July 2011

The Little Book of Cookie,

Part 1VTo the choir as a whole:

“Begin to get agitated now”…“You should be on your

knees, quietly praying”…“Think of Thatcher…Non…

non…non”…“Stuff it in somehow…A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-

MEN!”…“Keep the tempo up or you’ll die!”

(Various, Missa Solemnis, Beethoven)

“I want flat sausages!”

(Offertorium, Requiem, Mozart)

“The trick with this sort of music is that if it moves,

milk it!”

(O Magnum Mysterium, Morten Lauridsen)

“Everyone, don’t drown the sopranos; be warm and

cuddly”…“Doch UNS. It’s like ‘Let ALL the…let ALL

the’”…“In a-P! As in shee-P!”

(Schicksalslied, Brahms)

To the sopranos and altos:

“Sopranos and altos, you’re innocent maidens”

(Confutatis, Requiem, Mozart)

“Altos, you’ve got to be on heat!”

(Izhe kheruvimi, P Tchaikovsky)

And to the tenors:

“Tenors, you must expose yourselves fully”

(Et resurrexit, Missa Solemnis, Beethoven)

“Tenors, you’ve got to get your ‘we’

sorted out.”

(Izhe kheruvimi, P Tchaikovsky)

Your secret reporter finds that

the basses appear to have had

a good year!

Dear everyone

Keep an eye on the Choir Noticeboard in the Members’ Area at www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk | 3

Virginia View from the Front LineDear Choir

Well, here we are at the end of another very successful season that saw the performance of two new works (at least they were new to me), the pleasure of performing once again at Snape Maltings and for some of us, the excitement of singing in a new venue, St Alban’s Cathedral. Just fantastic.

We have our Maestro to thank, as ever, for his talent in bringing out the best

in our voices and performances so WELL DONE to Richard, and thank you for

the last year.

I wonder how many of you will know that the RCS gave its first ever performance,

as The Royal Albert Hall Choral Society, in the Royal Albert Hall on 8th May, 1872.

September 2011, therefore, is the beginning of the choir’s 140th anniversary

season and we have been planning various things to mark this milestone

appropriately.

I did enquire whether the RAH was available to us on 8th May 2012 but the Hall’s

schedule is so packed, you will not be surprised to hear that that date has already

been booked by someone else. However, I did discover that the Hall operates a

free “let” to a charity each year and of course, I put our name into the hat for the

2012 date. Happily, we have heard the result almost two months earlier than I

expected and I can announce the fantastic news that we have won the “let”.

We have told the Hall that we would like to use it to perform Verdi’s Requiem,

and we hope to do this with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was the RCS that

premiered this piece in England, at the Royal Albert Hall in 1875, and the choir was

conducted by Verdi himself. Given this fantastic story and the place this piece still

holds in the hearts of music lovers, we are going to pull out all the stops to make

sure it is a sell-out concert.

In addition to this, we have asked the fantastic music charity Nordoff-Robbins if it

would like to be our charity partner and we will donate a percentage of our profits

from this concert to its fund. We have also asked the RPO if it would consider

including in its line up for this concert a select number of final-year students from

some of the leading London conservatoires, an idea which the orchestra has said

it would be delighted to help us fulfil. We would then be contributing both to the

use of music to change people’s lives, as well as giving the next generation of

orchestral players the opportunity to play with some of the leading lights of today’s

professional concert music scene.

Of course, we have lots of goals for our anniversary season, including the making

of a recording, and commissioning a new work from a known composer, both of

which would, of course, require financial assistance. So, we have been putting

together a sponsorship document that we will be sending to organisations that

might be interested in supporting us in these endeavours. We thought you might

like to see the document, so we have sent you a copy with this newsletter and of

course, if you can think of any business that might be interested in sponsoring us

during our anniversary season, then please do write to them yourself, or ask me to

write to them, on behalf of the choir. Just email me and let me know if you want

We have won the2012 charity concert“let” at The RoyalAlbert Hall

We are planning tomake a recording

Can you help us findsponsors to make ouranniversary amazing?

The Central Hall in Westminster: the new venue for our 2011 Remembrance Day Concert

RCS 140Th AnniveRSARy


me to approach them, or tell me if you have written to them, so that I can keep

tabs on who we are contacting.

Also included in our goals for 2012 is an idea that has been raised by you before,

namely a student competition. So, Richard has worked very hard, putting the

details together, and the competition for students to write a new Christmas

Carol for us to premier at our 2012 Carols concert is already in motion. You can

see more about this on the RCS website.

More immediately, we are trying out a new venue for our Remembrance Concert

this November. We have booked both the Central Hall in Westminster,

immediately opposite the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and the

London Philharmonic Orchestra for our performance of Mozart’s Requiem and

Brahms’ Schicksalslied on Friday 11th November 2011. This will be a fabulous

opportunity to shine in front of an orchestra we have not performed with for a very

long time, and to sing a work that we all know and love so well. While the Hall is

possibly a new venue to many of you, I can reassure you that it is very beautiful

and, most exciting of all, it can seat an audience of over 2,000, so it is

all hands on deck to sell tickets. Of course, we will let you know when they go on

sale - keep an eye on the Choir Noticeboard on the RCS Website - and listen out

for mentions of the concert on Classic FM as we shall be advertising this particular

event on the radio station for the first time.

So, as usual, we have been busy. But the topic that probably has taken up most of

our time has been the next stage in the running of the choir.

Next season will be my last in charge; it is time for me to focus on my business

and to earn some proper money! Many people have volunteered to join us in

helping to run the choir, which means we have been able to think about how to

spread the workload a bit more evenly.

This process is still work in progress, and further appointments and roles will

be settled and announced during the next few months. Arabella, who is now in

charge of the Newsletter, as well as the Website and Social Media, has included

in this newsletter details about who is doing what thus far, and we will keep you

informed as things develop during the coming months. Please take time to read

through pages 10 and 11 of this newsletter, and make a note of any new practices

or lines of communication. Please also get into the habit of keeping a very regular

eye on the Members’ area of the RCS website, as in addition to the weekly

announcements at rehearsals, this is where new information will be posted.

And if you feel like helping in any way, at any time, please do get in touch.

So, we are in a period of change but rest assured, you will still see the

same faces around; and you will have some new ones to love too.

Have a fantastic summer and I look forward to seeing you all in September.

VirginiaVirginia Edwyn-Jones

July 2011

Performing at St Alban’s Cathedral and Snape Maltings


Photograph, Jackie Freshfield, 2011

2 | Summer 2011

By royal appointment


This year has been exciting for the Royal Family, and the choir - which has Her Majesty The Queen as its Patron - has been very fortunate to enjoy some Royal excitement of its own.

Every now and again, we are honoured to sing in Her Majesty’s presence (most recently at the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall in 2007), and of course our President, The Duke of Kent, has been present at our new, annual Remembrance Concerts. Representatives of the choir are also occasionally invited to attend one of the famous garden parties that Her Majesty holds at Buckingham Palace each summer.

This year, the excitement level moved a notch higher when a letter stamped with the familiar red E II R arrived. Its correspondent asked if I would put forward eight people to attend a reception that Her Majesty and HRH The Prince Philip were holding for young people in the performing arts.

As the choir is not a professional one, I immediately thought that none of our young people would qualify. However, a number of our members do go on to become professional musicians and on talking to the Palace, I was reassured that the choir is regarded as a supporter of young professional musicians. On that basis, I realised we had three natural contenders: Edward Hughes, Ruth Fraser and Agata Rybicka, all recent members of the RCS, and all training to become, or have become, professional singers.

Many of you will remember Edward, our Alto rep Ailsa’s son. Fondly known as Ed “One Man Tenor Section” Hughes, he completed his degree at Imperial College and was snapped up by the Royal College of Music for a five-year singing scholarship (congratulations to the Maestro for his teaching skills, which helped to get him there).

Then there is the gorgeous Ruth Fraser, who passed her degree in Early Music and harp at Trinity College and who is now a full-fledged professional. And finally,

Agata Rybicka, who won an audition to take up a year’s choral scholarship at St Martin’s in the Field, London

Having also been encouraged to submit the biographies and contact details of key members of our management team, I sat back and waited. In the end, five of us found ourselves walking through the gates of Buckingham Palace: Richard Cooke, Edward, Ruth, Agata and myself.

My own evening began beside the Victoria Memorial fountain, in front of the Palace. As I walked towards the gates, I found myself beside a blonde woman, slightly shorter than me, who turned to me and said: “Are we both going to the same thing? Hello, my name’s Helen.” As I looked into the smiling face of Dame Helen Mirren, I introduced myself and we chatted about what the evening might entail, and why we had been invited. Very disarmingly, Helen said she hadn’t a clue and asked if we could go in together as she didn’t know anyone.

Of course, as soon as we approached the red carpet (you know, the red carpet we all saw in the newsreels as the new Duchess of Cambridge stepped out of her wedding coach a week or so earlier), Helen was whisked off for some VIP treatment, and her last words to me were, “I’ll come and find you later”. Naturally, she settled into the celebrity group that was there and never gave me another thought, but what an entrance I had had.

I turned left as instructed and made my way up the stairs to the first floor and the beautiful Long Gallery, where I was ushered into the Throne Room and offered a glass of Champagne. Seriously, The Throne Room, complete with red brocaded thrones on which were embroidered in gold, ER and Philip. I couldn’t believe it.

Now, I mentioned at the beginning that we had been invited to a reception for young people in the performing

Summer 2011 | 3

arts. But that was all we knew. We had gathered that we would be offered a drink and that there would probably be canapés, and we had wondered if we might meet the Queen, but other than that, we had no clue to the plans for the event.

After about 45 minutes of mutual introductions and general chat, catching up on each other’s news, Ed, Ruth, Agata and myself went back into the Throne Room to put down our glasses, only to find ourselves being guided into a queue to exit the room at the rear. My first thought was, oh well, that’s it then, but how lovely. Then, in the next moment, I saw the Queen and Prince Philip in the adjacent room and realised that we were going to be officially received. Invitations at the ready, we inched along the queue. The Queen’s Footman took my invitation and announced me to Her Majesty; I took her hand, bowed my head, curtsied and said “Your Majesty”. Meanwhile, the footman had passed my invitation behind the Queen to another and I found myself curtsying and saying “Your Royal Highness” to the Duke of Edinburgh. He beamed at me and said “Do you sing, or do you organise?”. “Both Sir,” I replied.

At this point, we were now in a room facing the Palace gardens into which the late afternoon sun was shining. This is one of a succession of rooms, all connected, that run along the back of the Palace. Each room was sumptuous, with brocaded walls, priceless artwork, gilt-encrusted door architraves and sparse but beautiful furniture, and as we were shown through these rooms, to where we had no idea, we were elated at having met the Queen and thought again, Oh well, that’s it then, but how lovely. Except that that wasn’t it at all, because we now found ourselves in the Grand Ballroom, where there were rows of seats on three sides and an orchestra at the other end. I have to say that at this point I was positively squeaking with excitement and peered eagerly at the

beautifully-prepared programme on my seat. Some of the young people we were there to support were going to perform for us.

Finally we were all seated and the Queen and other members of the Royal Family came and sat down too; there was Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice, our President, The Duke of Kent, and various other members of the Family that I didn’t recognise. They were joined by celebrities such as Michael MacIntyre, Rick Wakeman, Misha Paris, Ellie Goulding and of course, Dame Helen.

After what was a fabulous concert, we were guided back into the rooms that overlook the Palace gardens, and were treated to some more Champagne before being gently herded back into the Long Gallery, and the footmen commenced their subtle and well-practiced routine of getting rid of the revellers. As I dragged my feet towards the exit, I took in all the wonderful art on the walls: Rubens, Van Dyke, Gainsborough and their peers, lit from above by a roof lantern that stretched the entire length of the gallery.

All of a sudden that was it and I found myself, with Ruth and Agata, out in the dusk of a perfect London sky, looking around the Palace courtyard. We decided that we couldn’t just go home, so repaired to a local hostelry in St James to have a proper catch-up. I got home around half past ten, completely thrilled at what a fabulous evening we’d all had, and feeling extremely privileged and amazed to have been involved with running the choir at the precise moment that we’d been invited.

I’m only sorry that you couldn’t all have been there too.

VE-J


While the rest of the world was recovering from the Royal

Wedding, on Saturday 19th June, the RCS played a wedding

march for two of our very own: Tenor, Stuart Heath, to Soprano,

Laura Twitchett. The ceremony was held in the glorious setting of

Bath Abbey and the choir was formed by members of the RCS.

Not surprisingly, given the couple’s extensive musical knowledge

and experience, their choice of music was a glorious mix of Parry’s I was Glad, Rachmaninov’s Bogoroditsye devo,

Tallis’s If ye love me, and Mozart’s Laudate Dominum, all of which was greeted with extreme approval by the choir, the

congregation and the many tourists who gathered at the West Door to greet the happy couple when they left the Abbey

as Mr and Mrs Heath.

The honeymoon was spent in the Lake District and we look forward to hearing all about the occasion when the Heaths

return to rehearsals in September.

Ch

oir

new

sSongs of Praise recordings, July 2011


Congratulations to…

New soprano member

Vicky Brown, on her engagement

to Will Marsh; and

to altos Susan Butterly to

Gareth Tomlinson, and

Ruth Turner to

Chris Wall.

When two become one

Alto Annie Pang writes:

The talent and skills of a conductor never cease to amaze me. For four days this summer, I, together with a number of RCS members, was able to see at close quarters, the talent and skill of conductor Craig McLeish at work as he led us in a series of recordings for the BBC’s Songs of Praise programme, at Air Studios in London.

Hosted by Aled Jones, each recording had a different guest artist – Dana, Rick Wakeman, Mavis Staples and Alfie Boe – and together with people from other choirs, we all worked towards producing four shows with completely different musical styles, ranging from pop and gospel, to classical.

The RCS as a choir is quite used to recording work, but a number of our fellow singers at these sessions were not, so, at each rehearsal and recording, Craig put every effort into making sure that we all pulled together and found a way to “get into the groove”. He mimed and signed, and pulled faces behind the cameras; he even succeeded in making us sing from memory with minimum effort. And when disaster struck and the air conditioning system had to be turned off because

In memoriam...David Godwin (1939 to 2011), Director of the RCS See Chairman Anthony Forbes’ letter on page 2.

Duncan Watney

(1932 to 2011), Bass

A fellow choir member and friend writes: “Duncan was a

retired GP and very much a people man. A Wykehamist, he

was a member of the Watney family of brewer fame and as

such, followed the family tradition of being a Master of the

Mercers’ Company, holding that role from 1994-5.

He practised in Crowborough, Sussex, where he was also

a JP, and I can imagine he was extremely popular. He was not shy in saying that he

was the Queen of the Crowborough Carnival several times – complete with blonde

wig – and at a gathering in his memory recently, his singing teacher Jacqueline Evill

recounted how Duncan insisted on making sure he knew his part every time he sang.

His first wife, with whom he adopted Lucy and Christopher, died a few years ago, but

he found new happiness when he married Edie two years ago. She sings with the

London Philharmonic Choir and has sung with us at Rochester and in various Classical

Spectacular concerts.

Lucy Gardiner (1956 to 2011), Soprano

Soprano Sarah Peacock writes: In January, we were very sad to lose Lucy Gardiner

to cancer. The RCS was an important part of her life for nearly 30 years. She

was an extraordinary person who always put the needs of others before her own and

we miss her happy spirit and positive outlook.

Alto Tessa Lydekker writes: Lucy went back a long way with the choir, and she

was devoted to it. My husband and I knew her from the Wandsworth Chamber of

Commerce, where she was a leading light for many years, and serving as Chairman

for a number of years. In 1984, she founded a charity called SkillTrain, which she ran

for 26 years. She did the most wonderful work taking in young people, mostly from

Wandsworth, with rotten backgrounds who had fallen foul of normal education for

behavioural reasons and were excluded from school and unemployable. Lucy took

them on and endeavoured to teach them how to learn, how to function, and in many

instances taught them how to read, write and add up; she tried to get them ready to

get a job and to find a place in society. While being entirely realistic about her success

rate, she only had good things to say about her clients.

She was also a Governor of at least two primary schools. Lucy was brought up in

Wimbledon, she attended Wimbledon High School and Southlands Teacher Training

College. On a personal note, she was devoted to her husband David and to their two

cats, one of which was a Ragdoll. She was quite the kindest and most considerate

person I think I have ever met; in the years I knew her, I never heard her say a bad word

about anybody. Warm, generous and funny – even through her illness – she maintained

a smile for her friends. We miss her.

it was too noisy, he helped keep ourselves cool by leading us in the synchronised waving of our song books in between takes.

It was a fantastic experience, smooth and professional. I only hope the audience does not spot one thing: we were all wearing summer clothing, for a winter screening.

Keep an eye out for the Songs of Praise programmes, being shown early in 2012.


Calling all young composersCompose a Christmas carol for the RCS and hear it sung in The Royal Albert hall, plus win £1,000

Are you, or do you know a young composer born after 1st January 1986? If so, take a close look at the Compose a Christmas Carol for the RCS competition. For full details, visit www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk.

your Choir needS youThe Royal Choral Society is run entirely by volunteers drawn from

its own ranks, and as the choir continues to expand and broaden its

horizons, there are a number of ways in which we need you to help.

The more people willing to take on small, occasional roles,

the easier it will be to bear the load.

If you have any experience in marketing and publicity and could spare

a few hours a month to help the choir in any way in these areas, or if you

have any ideas/practices/methods that you think we should be using,

please get in touch with Jackie Freshfield.

Even if you are not a marketeer, or have no PR experience, here

are five easy things we should all do to help spread the word

about the RCS and its concerts:

1) Talk about them on your Facebook page and Twitter feeds

2) Post details about them on your company’s internal website noticeboard

3) Put concert flyers up in your local church

4) Invite your friends to come to a concert. Send reminder emails to tell them what, when, where and how

5) Keep doing all of the above, especially in the run up to concert day

In addition to the notices given at the weekly rehearsals, the choir’s

website, Facebook and Twitter pages are the ways we will keep in touch

with you and the rest of the outside world. Please make

use of all three (assuming you have a Facebook and/or

Twitter page) as often as possible.

www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk

www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Choral-Society/193605384000492

http://twitter.com/royalchoral

If you have any thoughts about what should be on the any of these

sites, can help put them into action, or have any news, offers, calls

for help etc that you want to share with the choir, please email

Arabella at [email protected].


Buying tickets for any of our concerts:For Classical Spectacular, Carmina Burana, Christmas at the O2, Proms in the Park,

Beethoven’s Ninth, Gala for St George et al contact the Royal Albert Hall Box Office.

For Messiah, Remembrance Concert, RCS Christmas Carols, any concerts at Southwark, et al contact the

RCS Ticket Office, 020 7376 3719 or email queries: [email protected]

In addition to the RCS Ticket Office telephone number and email, we are hoping to run an on-line ticket

purchasing system for our own concerts on the RCS website very soon – keep an eye on the Choir

Noticeboard for further details.

Unless it is specifically relevant to one of the

job holders listed right, your VOICE REP is

your PRIME POINT OF CONTACT. Please

direct your queries to the relevant person,

using the email address (or mobile, in

emergencies) listed right.

Make your email and telephone messages relevant and succinct.

The Librarian is expanding into a Librarian

team, and the members will take it in turns

to organise the music for different concerts.

They will be led by Susan Balgarnie, and

she continues to be your main point of

contact. Please help her and her team

run this vital aspect of choir administration

by keeping an eye out for music ordering

details, and placing and paying for your

orders promptly, with the relevant person.

Julie Pringle, for instance, is looking after

the orders for our Christmas Carols concert.

Ailsa Hughes is now our Concerts

Manager, and with the help of various

others, will be responsible for the details of

each concert day, which will be conveyed to

you all by your Voice Reps. Although much

of Ailsa’s hard work is behind the scenes as

far as many of you are concerned, I can tell

you that it is an incredibly complicated task

involving much liaison work with the venues,

orchestras, and soloists, as well as the

choir’s own management team.

Please help Ailsa and your Voice

Reps keep the Concerts Manager

role manageable by completing your

online commitments form as soon as

possible, and keeping adjustments

to a minimum. You may be one person,

making a change, but multiply that by 100

people-plus for any given concert, and

Ailsa’s job, together with that of your Rep, is

complicated accordingly.

Monday 15th December, The Royal Albert hall

Tickets are now on sale for this concert, one of the highlights of our annual season. As well as familiar favourites, we will also be singing some new works,

including one very new piece in particular, Ubi Caritas, composed by Paul Mealor

for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding earlier this year.

Please store your Voice Rep’s mobile number on your mobile telephone now. If texting, put your full name at the end – your Rep is not telepathic.

Make your email and telephone messages relevant and succinct.

Soprano rep and RCS Website, Newsletters and Social Media – Arabella St John Parker [email protected]; 07711 416742 [email protected]

Soprano rep and Tickets Secretary Sarah Peacock [email protected]; [email protected]; RCS Ticket Office 020 7376 3719

Alto rep and Concert Manager – Ailsa Hughes [email protected]; 07813 384827

Deputy Alto rep – Julia Payne [email protected] ; 7702 220725

Tenor rep and Membership Secretary – Julian Rye [email protected]; 020 8398 2463 or 07774 137149

Bass rep – Tony Reeves [email protected]; 07792 161815

Librarian team – Susan Balgarnie [email protected]; 07976 438270 Christmas 2011 music orders should be sent to Julie Pringle – see the Choir Noticeboard on the RCS website

Marketing and Social Media – Jackie Freshfield [email protected]

Finance Director – Richard Reeves Members’ subscriptions, bursaries, accounts [email protected]; 01268 751393

Administrator – Virginia Edwyn-Jones [email protected], 020 7376 3718


RCS contacts

Boxes

Grand Tier (seat up to 10, a few up to 12)

Loggia (seat up to 8)

Second Tier (seat up to 5)

Single seats

Front Arena

Rear Arena

Choir

Stalls

Front Circle

Rear Circle

Restricted Circle

£44.50 per person

£42.50 per person

£38 per person

£35 per person

£29.50 per person

£15 per person

£39.50 per person

£26.50 per person

£21 per person

£12 per person

Seat type Price

royal Choral Society Christmas Carols 2011

We will also be welcoming special guest DOMINIC WEST (British star of American cult drama The Wire, and currently appearing on BBC 2 in period news drama, The Hour) and soprano NATASHA MARSH. We are also proud to be joined by the London Concert Orchestra and the Fanfare Trumpeters of

the Band of the Grenadier Guards for a performance that is guaranteed to kick start the festive season with style.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW Choir members and Friends of the RCS can order tickets through our

Tickets Manager Sarah Peacock. Please note that ALL orders must be paid for at the time of booking.

To order: see Sarah at Monday night rehearsals, call the RCS Ticket Line, 020 7376 3719 or email queries:

[email protected]

Winter 2011 rehearsal and concert scheduleMozart/Brahms/Proms in the Park

PROMS IN THE PARK no rehearsal

Mozart/Brahms/Carols


Open Rehearsal: Mozart

Central Hall opening concert


Central Hall Concert

Carmina

Carmina

CARMINA BURANA CONCERT 7.30pm rehearsal tbc



Mozart/Brahms

Mozart/Brahms

Mozart/Brahms Concert 7.30pm rehearsal tbc

Joint Rehearsal; Classic Spectacular

CLASSICAL SPECTACULAR CONCERT 7.30pm Tutti rehearsal around 4pm

CLASSICAL SPECTACULAR 3PM & 7.30PM No rehearsal

Carols

Carols

Carols

Carols/Beethoven 9

Carols (3.30-6.30pm)

RCS CAROL CONCERT 7.30pm rehearsal: 3.00-6.00pm

Beethoven 9 CONCERT rehearsal: 4.30pm; tbc

Mon 5 September

Sat 10 September

Mon 12 September

Mon 19 September

Mon 26 September

Sat 1 October

Mon 3 October

Sat 8 October

Mon 10 October

Mon 17 October

Sat 22 October

Mon 24 October

Mon 31 October

Mon 7 November

Wed 9 November

FRI 11 November

Mon 14 November

Thurs 17 November

Sat 19 November

Mon 21 November

Mon 28 November

Weds 30 November

Mon 5 December

Sun 11 December

Mon 12 December

Thurs 29 December

Rehearsal

CONCERT

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Open Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal/ CONCERT

Rehearsal

Joint Rehearsal

CONCERT

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

CONCERT

Joint Rehearsal

CONCERT

CONCERT

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

Rehearsal

CONCERT

CONCERT

CLSG

Hyde Park

CLSG

CLSG

CLSG

Central Hall

CLSG

Central Hall

CLSG

CLSG

Royal Albert Hall

CLSG

CLSG

CLSG

CLSG

Central Hall

CLSG

Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

CLSG

CLSG

CLSG

CLSG

CLSG

Royal Albert Hall

BARBICAN

2012 CONFIRMED CONCERT DATESWednesday 14th March: Great Choral Classics, Royal Albert Hall (RPO)

Thursday 15th and Saturday 17th March: Classical Spectacular, Royal Albert Hall

Good Friday 6th April: Messiah, Royal Albert Hall

Sunday 22nd April: Gala for St George, Royal Albert Hall

Subject to change, alteration or addition – check the website for details

Keep an eye on the Choir Noticeboard in the Members’ Area at www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk

Photograph, Jackie Freshfield, April 2011

Documents

RCS Newsletter