News
Keeping you updated with the latest news
 

2023

28 June 2023
A Rousing end to the 2022/23 Season with Viva Italia!
9 June 2023
Cathedral Visits - Summer 2023
12 May 2023
Simon Toyne appointed as our new Musical Director
20 March 2023
Dame Ethel Smyth Mass in D - A resounding success!
13 February 2023
The Ethel Smyth full score has arrived

2022

13 December 2022
Christmas 2022 Concert & Fundraising
1 October 2022
New Accompanist Announced
1 September 2022
2022/23 Season Launched
31 August 2022
2022/23 Season : Our Conductors
1 August 2022
2021/22 Season - Done!
30 July 2022
Another (!) Special Evensong
13 June 2022
Jubilee Proms - Staggering Success
30 May 2022
MD steps down after 15 years
29 May 2022
A Special Evensong
2 April 2022
Carmina in Style
1 March 2022
Song for Ukraine
21 February 2022
#22for22 Update
7 February 2022
The Armed Man

2021

16 December 2021
#22for22 is launched
4 December 2021
Christmas is Back! with a brassy bang!
6 November 2021
714 Days... Back in Concert
27 October 2021
660 Days... We're Back
4 October 2021
Annual General Meeting
1 August 2021
2021/22 Season Launched
7 June 2021
Expanding the Canon
18 May 2021
Live Singing started ... stopped
17 May 2021
Fridays and the Future
14 April 2021
Virtual Video
12 April 2021
Summer in the Alps
26 March 2021
Fridays at Four - Spring Done
9 March 2021
International Women's Day
22 February 2021
Cooking up a Feast
12 February 2021
Centenary Classics
11 January 2021
Classical Classics

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

 

Expanding the Canon

7 June 2021

During these times when we have not been able to meet to sing, our MD has been providing us with lots of other activities to keep us busy. If you look back over our News Feed on the website you will find articles about daily listening posts he arranged for us in our half-term and other breaks. We have had a Choral Alphabet, from Kerry Andrew to Jan Dismas Zelenka (Summer 2020), a focus on Concertos for instruments other than violin, cello, and piano - Concerto for Ten (October 2020), a Christmas Choral Alphabet from Angelus ad pastores ait to Zoom Carol (December 2020), and an hourly set of 24 posts on International Women’s Day taking us through women composers in history, from Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) to Laura Mvula (b. 1986).

The Ethel Smyth Panel

This half-term Lee was assisted by three of our Fridays at Four guests - Dr Leah Broad, Hannah Millington, and Dr Amy Zigler - who are all experts in the music of Dame Ethel Smyth. Alongside Lee, each selected one work by Smyth for members to hear, and one or two works by other women composers. Under the hashtag #ExpandingTheCanon, the series had ten daily posts via our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and shared by our MD’s other choirs in Huntingdon, Leamington Spa, and Wellingborough. The music was all non-choral, to open up wider listening and experiences.


Leah Broad’s Choices

  What if I were young again? from The Boatswain’s Mate (1913-14)
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
     
  Concerto for Piano and Strings (1948)
Doreen Carwithen (1922-2003)
     
  Concerto for Cello and Strings (2008)
Dobrinka Tabakova (b. 1980)



Hannah Millington’s Choices

  Sonata for Cello and Piano in C minor (1880)
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
     
  Symphony No. 4 (1850-51)
Emilie Mayer (1812-1883)



Amy Zigler’s Choices

  String Quartet in E minor (1902, rev. 1912)
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
     
  Soirées musicales (1836)
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)



Lee Dunleavy’s Choices

  Overture from The Wreckers (1902-1904)
Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
     
  Violin Sonata in G minor (1945)
Helvi Leiviskä (1902-1982)
     
  Bukoolika (1983)
Esther Mägi (1922-2021)