40th Anniversary Celebrations
Welcome to the Archive Pages of the Garleton Singers
Season 2010/2011
During 2011, the Choir celebrated its 40th Anniversary. Of course there was a full year of celebratory events and as part of the celebrations, the Choir went on tour! During May 2011, the Choir visited Krakow in Poland and had a busy concert programme whilst there. Coupled with that the Choir performed a special concert in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh.
April 2011:
The official review of the Spring Concert:
The Garleton Singers have reached their 40th Anniversary this year and Sunday night’s Concert in St Mary’s Church, Haddington was a suitably celebratory affair. In what was a packed programme and a “big sing” for the choir, the conductor Stephen Doughty had devised a musical sequence spanning some four hundred years of glorious sacred choral music.It demonstrated the singers grasp of some of the differing styles on offer and was beautifully accompanied by both orchestra and organ.
It was a brave choice to open the programme with the J S Bach motet Lobet den Herrn – Praise the Lord, all you nations; and the choir coped admirably with the densely weaving choral writing through to the glorious Alleluia finish. Following a pause to relocate the choir and seat the orchestra, one of Monteverdi’s most famous pieces - Beatus Virwas next. After a tentative start the familiar full choralsound contrasting with the semi-chorus was impressive. In the next piece, Gabrieli’s Jubilate Deo,the choir managed the tricky time changes with aplomb. Adding winds and drums to the orchestral mix, Mozart’s Coronation Masswasnext and it was one of the highlights of the programme.It’s a mark of the maturity of the choir that they can field soloists of quality from amongst their own ranks, and tonight was no exception. The quartet sounded splendid, and was particularly affecting in the Benedictus, with the full choirs interposing Hosannas. This was followed by the beautiful Agnus Dei and special mention must be made of the soprano soloist Morag Sherriffs who was outstanding.
The interval gave us time for a brief look at an exhibition of choir photos, posters and memories from the previous forty years; before a second half of Vaughan Williams, Henryk Górecki and John Rutter. The festive atmosphere was enhanced by brass and percussion – firstly in VW’s O Clap Your Hands. The sound was truly thrilling. Gorecki’s meditation on the Blessed Virgin for unaccompanied choir - Totus Tuus was less successful.However, Rutter’s Gloria was indeed a glorious and suitable end to such a festive programme. The choir can be heard again in St Mary’s on Monday 23rd May; before leaving to sing two concerts in the Polish city of
John Stone
March 2011:
STOP PRESS.......Garleton Singers Musical Director lands prestigious post!
Stephen Doughty, Musical Director of the Garleton Singers has been appointed the Chorus Master of the Belfast Philharmonic Choir. This chorus of some 130 voices are, in the main, the symphony chorus for the Ulster Orchestra, the professional Orchestra in Belfast.
This post became available on the resignaton of the nationally renowned Christopher Bell who will shortly complete seven successful seasons with the choir. Stephen had to go through a rigorous recruitment process with applicants from as far as Japan and Chile as well as Ireland and the UK.
Stephen, who also directs the Choir of St.John's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, has been the Musical Director of the Garleton Singers for 14 years. He regularly works as a conductor and accompanist with the National Youth Choir of Scotland and has recently taken rehearsals with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. He has been the accompanist and deputy conductor with the Philharmonic since 2007.
Stephen will continue to direct the Garleton Singers through this, our 40th Anniversary Year, and beyond.
Season 2009/10
GARLETON SINGERS PHOTOGRAPH
It's not too late to order a copy of the choir photo. Log on to www.imagepartner.co.uk
We are event: Garleton 2010 photo and the password is: choir
JUBILATE!
The May concert was performed with panache and flair, and a little bit of cheating by those people who wrote the words to Sumer Is Acumen In on the backs of their hands. Our new formation helped our men in particular to a sharper focus that was pretty darn zingy! The orchestra, led by the inimitable Lawrence Dunn, played with an assurance which was obviously appreciated by the audience. Our organist, John Anderson, added an extra dimension to Parry's I Was Glad (as did the trumpeters, who surprised some of the front row with their enthusiastic fanfares). One audience member reported that the choir's entry to Zadok the Priest was utterly thrilling ... echoing through the packed church and spilling out into the gorgeous twilight to the delight of passers-by. Well done to everyone.
THE MARCH CONCERT ...
... went well. This was the first time we had sung music by Kodaly, and we embraced the challenge of his Missa Brevis, and that of Liszt's Missa Choralis, with courage and fortitude. On both nights there were songs and movements with power and beauty, in which the Garleton Singers proved that they are capable of great things. We weren't perfect. One audience member came up to a chorister after the concert and said confidentially 'I liked the Liszt very much, but it's a shame that the organ was out of tune whenever it came back in', which will possibly annoy Caroline! Caroline Cradock was superb throughout, and we hope she will play with us again very soon. Congratulations to our soloists and semi chorus members - Sadie Maskery, David Wilson, Graham Miller, Kay Henderson, Katie Hamilton, Sharon Keulemans, Davina Briggs, Nicola Cuthbert, Gerrie Macarthur, Morag Sheriffs, Ann Browning, Helen Bennett, Christopher Farquar, Simon Williams, and Michael Smith. In particular can I extend my heartfelt admiration to the Missa Choralis semichorus who, on the Saturday, sang with absolutely no support after what could perhaps be described as car-crash choralling by the rest of us in the preceding moments. Overall, we should be proud with what we achieved. Sunday night in particular was exhilarating, and left many of us wishing we could sing it all over again. (After a nice long rest and a stiff gin, of course.)
And we sounded like .... this. (Right click on the link, download the mp3, be stunned by our lalalalalalalalalalas.)
THE OFFICIAL REVIEW
"With a beautifully balanced programme, The Garleton Singers presented a concert of Hungarian focused choral music at St Mary’s, Haddington on Sunday last - 21st March 2010.
The programme opened with Seiber’s Three Hungarian Folk Songs. And what a thrilling opening it was, with the confident, unaccompanied choir singing from memory. John Brown’s spurs really did ring!
Next, by contrast, came a Liszt organ piece energetically played by Caroline Cradock.
Kodaly’s Missa Brevis is scored for choir, organ, a soprano semi-chorus and a trio of alto, tenor and bass, and it is a mark of the conductor Stephen Doughty’s confidence in his singers that all these roles were sung by members of the choir. The circumstances of Kodaly’s composition of this piece add poignancy to phrases such as “donna nobis pacem” – “give us peace” – from the Agnus Dei, as it was written whilst evading persecution from the Nazis and given a first performance during the siege of Budapest in 1945.
The work presents difficulties of balance and tuning; and the high soprano entries at the beginning and end of the work were particularly well handled. Indeed, the quality of sound from the soprano and alto sections throughout was noteworthy.
The second half of the programme started with Kodaly’s unaccompanied Evening Song and was beautifully sung. The ladies and gentlemen gave us separate motets next, and the tenors and basses really swaggered with Halmos’s jubilant Jubilate!
Finally, to Liszt’s Missa Choralis. The drama of the work came through very clearly. Particularly enjoyable was the word painting in the Credo. Again, a semichorus provided contrast and the work left a lively impression.
I appreciated the carefully contrasting elements of the overall programme and it is refreshing to hear a local choir tackling such rarely heard and challenging repertoire. It is a mark of the stature of this choir that it was presented so effectively.
The Garleton Singers can be heard again in St Mary’s at Haddington Festival time, with Handel’s Zadok the Priestst May at 7:30pm." and other festive favourites on Monday 31
John Stone
Guess who?.....Guess who? Guess who?
As part of the celebrations, we are planning to put together an Anniversary Exhibition and we would like your help with this. The photograph below will form part of the exhibition. Do you recognise anyone? There are a few of you still singing with us, I know, but at the moment even the date on which this was taken is a mystery. If you see someone you know (or even yourself), could you contact us at info@garletonsingers.co.uk stating both the name and where they appear on the image?
Many thanks.
Herewith a version with numbers on it to help you.....