Our first concert in 2023 entitled Glories of the Baroque explored music from the well known trio of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, with Monteverdi making an appearance with the charming Beatus Vir and Pergolesi with Magnificat. It proved to be a stirring concert with Handel’s rousing Zadok the Priest opening the evening. The summer programme, The Language of Flowers, was described as a choral adventure into nature’s spring and summer beauty with, music ranging from To Daffodils by Benjamin Britten to Vaughan Williams I got me Flowers to the haunting beauty of The Rose by contemporary Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo. It also introduced our new composer in residence, Alexander Hopkins, whose piece, Daffodils, was written specifically for Fulham Camerata’s summer concert.
Well what a wonderful concert! We had a full audience, a string sextet and a beautiful selection of French Choral music. Here are a few pictures that capture the sheer joy of singing and playing in company again. Photos taken by John Hartfree of Bright Images Photography Our next concert is on 12th December 2021 and we will be performing by a great selection of work from Handel's Messiah and, we will be doing it by Candlelight. This will be a beautiful festive evening in the depths of Winter. For more details see our Concerts Page. Comeback concert on Sunday 14th November at 7.00pm at Holy Cross Church, Ashington Road in Parsons Green Tickets at the door With a six piece string ensemble, Fulham Camerata will sing Fauré’s beautiful Requiem, full of joy and optimism and dominated from beginning to end by Fauré’s great faith in eternal rest and consolation. Despite the sombre theme, this Requiem has a different take on death and looks upon it as a happy deliverance. To quote Fauré himself “My Requiem wasn’t written for anything - just for pleasure, if I may call it that!” And it certainly shows! His beautiful Pie Jesu never fails to move, however frequently one has listened to it and In Paradisum, the last movement, is an inspiring and uplifting ode to the afterlife, an aspiration towards happiness and peace. The Requiem will be coupled with another Fauré work, Cantique de Jean Racine, literally a Chant by Jean Racine, derived from a Latin hymn for matins and composed when Fauré was only 19 for a composition competition. It won him first prize! The two works are often performed together and their individual styles show similarities. Video clip taken during the final rehearsal of the Sanctus in Fauré’s Requiem.
To all choir members who may wish to join the Zoom rehearsals: our term runs four weeks from 23rd February to March 16th at a cost of £20. These are one-hour Zoom sessions and take place on Tuesdays starting at 7.30pm.
Through January and February we have sung some interesting and varied short pieces covering a range of composers, some new to the choir and some we have met before. The list includes a melodic, renaissance polyphony piece by Palestrina, Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart, a beautiful short piece by Grieg, pieces by Villiers Stanford, Purcell, Byrd, Brahms... the list continues. The more contemporary music has also been a great hit: John Rutter’s A Gaelic Blessing, Howard Goodall's The Lord is my Shepherd and the very popular Wherever you are, by Paul Mealor, dedicated to Gareth Malone and The Military Wives. With this variety of music the time passes by in a flash and when the hour comes to a close we all wish we could sing further. Particularly enjoyable is Harry’s use of a prerecorded backing track to sing along with after we have practised a piece. It helps iron out any wrong notes and, equally importantly, it gives choir members the feel of singing with other people in a group. A great bonus is to hear more from Harry about the composers whose pieces we are singing, as well as additional interesting material about the pieces themselves. Guest speakers will be joining the rehearsals, giving us their take on a particular piece of music. There is a lot of enthusiasm for these 'Zoom sessions with a difference', as is evident from the emails from participants. As one put it “I love Harry’s enthusiasm and passion and I also like his bite size extra information on music/composer”. It certainly brings the music to life! Despite being unable to rehearse as normal, the choir has kept singing together by using video-conferencing from home. The initiative is not without its challenges, but has been rewarding and keeps members in touch. The local website Urban Village LDN picked up the story and reported it. Their news article can be seen here. We've received a lovely letter from the Catholic Children's Society, thanking us for the donation we raised in our Christmas Concert. "Thank you for Fulham Camerata Choir's very kind donation of £380. Your Choir's gift will make such a difference to the lives of vulnerable children and young people." Click the image to read the full letter. Next term, our repertoire is Stabat Mater by Paul Mealor and Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Just wonderful music. Basses, don't hold back on the Christmas cigars: the Mealor has a bottom B flat! The graphic depicts who sings which stanzas of the poem, see here for more. Some encouraging audience feedback on our November performance: “What a splendid concert last night - many congratulations to you all and thank you so much. I really enjoyed it, one of the best ever. […] The Church was packed - people are arriving earlier and earlier to get a good seat, which speaks for itself. Well done and thank you again!” “Last night was a triumph. I just loved it and think you are part of a wonderful choir and to add to it, they are all Fulham based. What talent we have right on our doorsteps! […] a wonderful evening and very uplifting […] Thank you!" A warm welcome to Will Fielding, our strikingly talented new accompanist who played so magnificently when he joined us at our 2019 performance, and must have enjoyed it because he's now working with us every week. Will takes over from Jonny Allsopp, who has taken up the post of Assistant Director of Music at Southwell Minster after a year as Organ Scholar at Westminster Cathedral. Meanwhile the concert career of our former accompanist, Richard Gowers, goes from strength to strength. Somehow Richard managed to fit us in between being Organ Scholar at King's College Chapel, Cambridge and sought-after international rock star. We wish them all well.
The choir gets a new website. It was time for a refresh and a more mobile-friendly, modern look.
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