Rehearsals under way for November concert
| Type of post: | Choir news item |
| Sub-type: | No sub-type |
| Posted By: | Magnus Carter |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Mon, 17 Jun 2024 |
Rehearsals are under way for our November concert, the rarely performed J S Bach masterpiece Christmas Oratorio.
The music is superb, if sometimes challenging to sing. However, the choir’s biggest hurdle is perhaps that we have chosen to sing the original German text – because the rhythm and structure of Bach’s score work better that way. No English translation truly does it justice.
We are lucky that our Music Director, Ben Sawyer, knows the German text well and can guide us on both pronunciation and meaning. Bass section singer Brian Cairns is also fluent in German, and will help keep us right!
For the six summer rehearsals we welcome a number of new singers who have accepted our invitation to ‘Come and Sing’. We hope they enjoy the experience so much that they will join the choir permanently when we restart rehearsals in September.
This is a big work, which was written in 1734 as a series of Cantatas, each for different weekly church services around Christmas. We will perform Parts 1, 2, 3 and 6. The performance will also feature our friends at Regency Sinfonia and several guest solo singers – watch this space for details!
Magnus Carter
The music is superb, if sometimes challenging to sing. However, the choir’s biggest hurdle is perhaps that we have chosen to sing the original German text – because the rhythm and structure of Bach’s score work better that way. No English translation truly does it justice.
We are lucky that our Music Director, Ben Sawyer, knows the German text well and can guide us on both pronunciation and meaning. Bass section singer Brian Cairns is also fluent in German, and will help keep us right!
For the six summer rehearsals we welcome a number of new singers who have accepted our invitation to ‘Come and Sing’. We hope they enjoy the experience so much that they will join the choir permanently when we restart rehearsals in September.
This is a big work, which was written in 1734 as a series of Cantatas, each for different weekly church services around Christmas. We will perform Parts 1, 2, 3 and 6. The performance will also feature our friends at Regency Sinfonia and several guest solo singers – watch this space for details!
Magnus Carter
