Three 2010 Subscription Concerts will be provided to  Friends of St. Peter's Consort at a preferential rate covering all three concerts.  We hope you will agree this is excellent value for money! Please see full details in the letter below from our Director Tom Moore. If you wish to become a Friend of St. Peter's Consort for 2010, please send a cheque for the appropriate amount to Richard Gadsby, 22 Headlands Close, Liversedge, WF15 7QL, who will forward you this year's Friend's Membership Card. Alternatively, please pass your remittance to any choir member.    

 

  

28 April 2010

Dear Friends

Looking out of my office this morning, it seems that spring has finally arrived. I thought this was the right time to drop you a line or two about the forthcoming concert at the beginning of June. Before that, though, I will take the opportunity to mention that the Consort has been busy over the last couple of months, in rehearsal for the next Subscription Concert plus in other musical and social events. We sang the choral services at the Cathedral in Wakefield during the February half term, and have since sung again in the Cathedral at the Wakefield Hospice twentieth anniversary celebration service. Consort members also enjoyed a week-end away in Bristol on the Low Sunday week-end, singing choral evensong at St. Mary Redcliffe, and Mass at Downside Abbey on the Sunday morning. This was a memorable and fun occasion for all concerned.

Looking towards the forthcoming Subscription Concert, we shall again be joined by Daniel Justin at the organ. Daniel continues to support Consort and his colourful organ accompaniments truly enhance our performances. He will be playing Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D major and I shall be taking my turn at the keys performing S.S. Wesley’s “Choral Song and Fugue”.

As far as choral music is concerned, much of the programme on Saturday 5 June will be given over to celebrating some of the more weighty works of the choral repertoire, hence our title “English Choral Classics”. The choir has worked hard to prepare “Ascribe unto the Lord” by Wesley (it is the bicentenary of his birth), Parry’s “Blest pair of sirens”, and Finzi’s “Lo, the full final sacrifice”. These are all stunning works in their own right, although very different in style. The pieces give opportunities for mighty chorus singing, carefully crafted verse work and solo appearances from within the choir. There will also be a selection of music by the Renaissance composers, Byrd, Tallis and Victoria and a complex setting of the works of Psalm 23 by Schubert for four-part ladies’ choir.

However, certain items in the programme will again see the choir in more relaxed mode and there will be a couple of male voice, barbershop-style, quartets for you to enjoy, together with Andrew Carter’s “Two for the Price of One”.

Thank you to those who have subscribed as a “Friend of St. Peter’s Consort” for this year, for which we are very grateful. Your support both financially and in person at concerts is very much appreciated, and we look forward to seeing you in just a few weeks time for what we hope will be a very exciting Subscription Concert. It is not too late to take advantage of our generous “Friend” offer, which enables you to attend all our three 2010 Subscription Concerts at about half price (please send a cheque payable to “St. Peter’s Consort” to Richard Gadsby, 22 Headlands Close, Liversedge, WF15 7QL – or to any other choir member – by 29 May, for either £12 or £9 for concessions, to ensure you receive your Friend’s membership card in time).

We look forward to seeing you at the Cathedral on 5 June at 7.30pm (£8 or £6 for concessions). Bring your friends with you and enjoy the evening!

Kind regards and many thanks once again for your support.

Tom Moore

　

25th February 2010

Dear Friends

I hope that the New Year has got underway successfully for you. It has been a difficult time for the Consort, as a number of rehearsals have been disrupted by the snowy weather since the start of the year. Nevertheless, Consort managed to sing two excellent services in the Cathedral on the Sunday before Lent. It was particularly good to hear Gray in F Minor being sung in the Cathedral again, and this set of double choir canticles really tested the singers!

The next Spring Subscription Concert will again be in Wakefield Cathedral – on 5^th  June at 7.30pm. This will be another concert of choral classics, featuring three English composers – Finzi’s “Lo the full final sacrifice”, Wesley’s “Ascribe unto the Lord” and “Blest pair of Sirens” by Parry. We will throw in some lighter items as well, including a clever arrangement by Andrew Carter combining “This old man” and “There was an old man”. Do come to listen and enjoy.

At our Autumn Subscription Concert at the Cathedral, on Saturday 18 September at 7.30pm, we are hoping to pair up with an exciting act for something quite different, to tackle your aural senses. However as negotiations are at an early stage presently, I am going to keep this plan under my hat for now! I will update you nearer the time. We hope you will be eager to join us for this event.

It is apparent that we are offering quality entertainment at comparatively little cost to our audience. Consequently, we have reviewed ticket prices and Friends subscriptions for this coming season. The normal ticket prices will now be £8 (£6 for concessions), except for the Christmas Subscription Concert (at St. Mary’s Church, Horbury Junction on 15 December at 7.30pm), which will cost £6 for all. The Friends’ subscription for the season will be increased to £12 (with £9 for concessions) – this will allow “free” admission to all three Subscription Concerts. We think that the cost of coming to a Consort concert, particularly as a “Friend”, will still offer great value for money and we are sure you will agree.

These increases will help to defray the ever rising costs of staging concerts, bring us better into line with similar organisations and enable us to have the funds to book other quality groups and individuals to perform with us from time to time.

If you wish to become a Friend of St. Peter’s Consort for 2010, please send a cheque (payable to St. Peter’s Consort) for the appropriate amount to Richard Gadsby, 22 Headlands Close, Liversedge, WF15 7QL, who will forward you this year’s Friend’s Membership Card. Alternatively please pass your remittance to any choir member, who will pass this on to Richard.

 Some of the Consort members, together with others, will be singing at the magnificent St. Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol (described by Queen Elizabeth I as “The goodliest, fairest and most famous parish church in England”!), and at Downside Abbey, on Low Sunday week-end this year. If you are holidaying in the area or have relatives in that part of the country, do consider coming to hear us.

 

More details will appear on this web-site in due course.

 

We look forward to seeing you at future concerts, and thank you most warmly for your support for the Consort.

Kind regards and best wishes

Tom Moore